“Money in EU goes to lobbyists representing big companies from Silicon Valley,” says Evgeny Morozov (journalist and author). By not being able to count on state and trust politicians people are left with only hope. “Silicon Valley gives hope. But it’s fake,” he believes.
Evgeny Morozov is a writer with Belarus origins, currently works as a senior editor for The New Republic. He studies political and social implications of technology. Journalist expressed his opinion while presenting his book about this issue.
Technology we use is run by few big companies, he believes. Users are usually only considering the price of it. Since large companies are offering services very cheap or free of charge, people choose to use them. That’s why Silicon Valley is the best option, describes Morozov. “Google is letting use for free its services in exchange of ability to access our data,” says journalist.
He believes such big companies as Google, Facebook, and others are taking over all platforms. “Don’t blame your iPhone, it’s all the links you are clicking on,” he gives an example about data security.
Asked about how to avoid this problem, Morozov advices European cities to cooperate. “Cities need to start working together. No city has big enough infrastructure to compete with them,” he says. Everyone’s going to suffer from monopoly that belongs to large companies from Silicon Valley.
Morozov thinks one of the biggest problems within this issue is distrust from society. Local companies and governments are corrupted, he says. Therefore people tend to believe Silicon Valley. They are voluntarily giving up their rights to privacy. He says that technology is not to blame, but politics.
Governments represent interests, not citizens, he also believes. Therefore there’s large number of people who don’t vote at all.
By: Anna Udre