The emergence of data-driven mass surveillance "is threatening to turn privacy into a relic of the 20th century," says the anonymous YouTube creator known as Ordinary Things. Meanwhile, state-funded troll farms are spreading disinformation and curating chaos on platforms meant to connect us and revolutionize the way we live. This week, we're revisiting a talk in which Ordinary Things gives an enlightening account of the internet's strengths and weaknesses, warning that the fight for a free internet is a fight for our collective future.
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[00:00:00] TED Audio Collective
[00:00:02] When the internet made its public debut in the mid-90s, we'd never seen anything like it before.
[00:00:20] It was a new portal with access to vast amounts of information to feed our curiosity.
[00:00:26] By the year 2000, over 300 million people all around the world were tapping into this digital phenomenon.
[00:00:33] Since those early days, the internet has set a new precedence for how we convene and connect it to each other.
[00:00:40] From AOL chat rooms to NetNoir, people like you and me were creating digital communities entirely online.
[00:00:48] And the innovations kept coming, with future social media platforms like MySpace, Friendster, and now Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok reshaping how we communicate.
[00:00:59] Today, the internet is everywhere around us, in our smartphones, home devices, cars, and even the buildings in which we live.
[00:01:07] We depend on it so much.
[00:01:09] But for all the good things it brings, we can't ignore the bad.
[00:01:13] And as we forge ahead, we should be asking ourselves,
[00:01:17] what do we want the future of the internet to look like?
[00:01:22] I'm Sherelle Dorsey, and this is TED Tech.
[00:01:25] This era of the internet is riddled with double-edged swords.
[00:01:28] Social media is a tool for collective organizing and community building,
[00:01:32] while also leaving users vulnerable to cyberbullying and mental health problems.
[00:01:38] Though we have open access to useful information, our privacy is constantly compromised,
[00:01:44] and disinformation spreads in moments online.
[00:01:47] Still, there's so much good that comes from the internet.
[00:01:51] So how do we fight for that?
[00:01:53] Anonymous TED Talker, Ordinary Things, takes us on a whirlwind journey,
[00:01:58] asking us to consider what the future of the internet could look like,
[00:02:01] and why that matters for humanity.
[00:02:13] What does the AI revolution mean?
[00:02:16] For jobs?
[00:02:17] For getting things done?
[00:02:18] Who are the people creating this technology?
[00:02:21] And what do they think?
[00:02:23] I'm Rana El-Khalyubi, an AI scientist, entrepreneur, investor,
[00:02:28] and now host of the new podcast, Pioneers of AI.
[00:02:32] Think of it as your guide for all things AI,
[00:02:35] with the most human issues at the center.
[00:02:38] Join me every Wednesday for Pioneers of AI.
[00:02:41] And don't forget to subscribe wherever you tune in.
[00:02:47] The internet, as you know it, is under attack,
[00:02:51] and it's more fragile than you might think.
[00:02:53] In the earlier, nerdier, screechier days of the net,
[00:02:58] the possibilities seemed endless.
[00:03:00] Information wants to be free, said the Web 1.0 pioneers.
[00:03:06] They envisioned a free internet where countless independent nodes
[00:03:10] would sustain a worldwide system of instant communication,
[00:03:14] entirely decentralized and therefore immune to central control or sabotage.
[00:03:20] Cut to today and, eh, I think they got it about half right.
[00:03:25] So much for independent, it now seems like the internet and its infrastructure
[00:03:29] are owned by the same free American dudes.
[00:03:32] In a world of mega platforms, attention-sapping algorithms,
[00:03:36] and mass surveillance,
[00:03:38] we aren't wondering if information is free.
[00:03:40] We're wondering if we are.
[00:03:43] Now, with all the doom and gloom aside, I should say,
[00:03:46] I love the internet.
[00:03:47] It's where I spend most of my time.
[00:03:49] The best thing about my pandemic has been watching the rest of you get reduced to my level.
[00:03:54] It's accelerated the digital world's invasion of the material one.
[00:03:59] That meeting that could have been an email is now an email.
[00:04:04] Malls are being shut by search bars.
[00:04:06] Fortnite tournaments are filling national stadiums.
[00:04:09] Whatever happens next, we're all going to be spending more time online.
[00:04:13] So how do we protect what makes it great and change what makes it terrifying?
[00:04:19] Well, first of all, I think we need an update.
[00:04:23] Internet access is no longer a luxury.
[00:04:25] It is a necessity for economic and individual development.
[00:04:29] For developing countries, increased access is a pathway out of poverty
[00:04:34] and enables smoother access to essential services like education and healthcare.
[00:04:39] As millions in the global south have logged on,
[00:04:43] the way the world accesses the internet has completely changed.
[00:04:46] In 2011, mobile internet use accounted for just 5% of total traffic.
[00:04:52] Today, it sits comfortably at 56%.
[00:04:56] Cheap phones and 4G have made the internet truly global.
[00:05:01] But it also means that most of us only access it through a handful of applications.
[00:05:07] The internet is in all of your pockets and this is a TED talk,
[00:05:11] so it's probably on most of your wrists.
[00:05:13] Not mine, I've got a calculator.
[00:05:16] Keeps me humble.
[00:05:17] That's where we access it, but we wouldn't be able to
[00:05:20] if it weren't for unassuming, securely guarded buildings.
[00:05:24] Internet exchange points where bandwidth is actually produced.
[00:05:29] If these places cease to operate, then the internet is down
[00:05:32] and not even the sweatiest guy in your IT department can do anything about it.
[00:05:37] In 2011, the Egyptian government shut down one of the country's two main exchange points,
[00:05:43] the Ramsey's Exchange in Cairo.
[00:05:45] The internet was being used to organize protests as users were galvanized
[00:05:50] by sharing videos of ongoing violence in real time.
[00:05:54] For days, only a few government ministries and the stock market were connected to the internet.
[00:06:00] It was a threat to the crumbling regime,
[00:06:02] and when the government did fall, the internet got the lion's share of the credit.
[00:06:07] Protests were organized without appointed leaders and with unprecedented speed.
[00:06:12] And this is what the internet does that no other technology has ever come close to achieving.
[00:06:18] Decentralized mass organization.
[00:06:21] Since then, though, regimes have gotten a lot better at harnessing the internet's power for themselves.
[00:06:28] In 2019, both Iran and Iraq faced potentially destabilizing protest movements,
[00:06:34] and both governments reacted by pulling the national router.
[00:06:39] These blackouts, though, are costly.
[00:06:42] Iraq's 11-day shutdown was estimated to cost their economy over $2 billion.
[00:06:49] Iran's only lasted eight days, but the communication blackout
[00:06:52] was used to imprison organizers and murder protesters in their hundreds.
[00:06:58] Video of violence made its way online once access was restored,
[00:07:03] but by then, the protest movement had lost all momentum.
[00:07:08] This year, the frontline fight for the free internet has been in Myanmar.
[00:07:14] The military junta seized power in February
[00:07:17] and enacted nightly internet shutdowns to hinder protest and hide human rights abuses.
[00:07:23] Social media was banned for months,
[00:07:26] but activists have been successfully skirting restrictions,
[00:07:30] using VPNs to access restricted services and to document state violence.
[00:07:35] This is guerrilla cyber warfare in action,
[00:07:39] and it has real-world casualties.
[00:07:42] Mobile phones might be empowering the resistance,
[00:07:45] but they are also facilitating data-driven mass surveillance.
[00:07:49] Use the wrong platform,
[00:07:52] and the government can monitor your private messages
[00:07:54] and automatically delete them
[00:07:56] before they reach their intended recipient.
[00:08:00] To me, this is like halfway between
[00:08:02] the government censoring your mail and your thoughts.
[00:08:06] But it's not hopeless.
[00:08:08] Just before the junta took over,
[00:08:11] their arrival was documented in this viral video
[00:08:14] by a fitness influencer.
[00:08:19] That is the junta's top brass arriving in the background
[00:08:23] to depose the democratically elected leader.
[00:08:33] Now, I love this video.
[00:08:34] It's simultaneously absurd and tragic,
[00:08:38] which I feel like are the twin moods of the internet at the moment.
[00:08:42] But it also shows that even when
[00:08:45] the entire national infrastructure of the internet
[00:08:47] is controlled by a repressive regime,
[00:08:51] information still wants to be free.
[00:08:54] In the West, though,
[00:08:56] some of us are worried that information
[00:08:58] has gone a bit too free.
[00:09:00] In some cases, fact-free.
[00:09:02] Disinformation and misinformation on social media
[00:09:06] are testing the boundaries of free speech.
[00:09:08] The World Health Organization has called the pandemic
[00:09:11] an infodemic,
[00:09:13] with posts telling you to cure coronavirus
[00:09:15] by drinking bleach.
[00:09:18] In the UK, a conspiracy theory linking 5G to coronavirus
[00:09:22] spread so quickly
[00:09:24] that it led to over 30 arson attacks on South Towers
[00:09:27] in March 2020 alone.
[00:09:30] Absurd.
[00:09:32] Tragic.
[00:09:32] Once again, but it's easy to see there's a problem.
[00:09:36] Combating disinformation is tricky
[00:09:38] when mega-platforms have become so enormous
[00:09:40] that they're nearly impossible to effectively moderate.
[00:09:44] When Facebook attempted to use machine learning
[00:09:46] to identify and remove dangerous posts,
[00:09:49] it often couldn't tell the difference
[00:09:51] between government guidance
[00:09:52] and posts meant to mimic it.
[00:09:55] Imperfect machines ultimately create imperfect machines.
[00:10:00] So this is a very human problem,
[00:10:02] and it obviously outdates the internet.
[00:10:05] There's always been demand for disinformation.
[00:10:07] It's based on what people want to believe.
[00:10:11] And where there is demand,
[00:10:13] there is opportunity to supply.
[00:10:15] Facebook themselves will tell you
[00:10:17] that most disinformation on their platform
[00:10:19] is financially incentivized.
[00:10:22] Malicious actors who own small websites
[00:10:25] crammed with ads
[00:10:26] who will pay to advertise on Facebook first
[00:10:28] to get the ball rolling.
[00:10:31] Platforms might not be able to moderate everything we say,
[00:10:34] and I don't think they should,
[00:10:35] but they are more than capable
[00:10:37] of disrupting and regulating who pays them.
[00:10:41] Of course, mega-platforms resist any regulation
[00:10:44] of their advertising
[00:10:45] because it's where they make most of their money.
[00:10:47] We all know they aren't selling us a service,
[00:10:50] they're selling access to our eyeballs.
[00:10:53] There's now a widespread distrust
[00:10:56] of the unregulated internet.
[00:10:58] In the UK,
[00:10:59] there has been popular public campaigns
[00:11:02] and subsequent government proposals
[00:11:04] to connect social media accounts
[00:11:06] to government-issued identification,
[00:11:08] getting rid of the anonymity
[00:11:10] and holding people accountable
[00:11:12] for all the naughty things they say online.
[00:11:14] This is well-meaning,
[00:11:16] but it's a fucking terrible idea.
[00:11:19] Marginalized groups and political dissidents
[00:11:21] rely on anonymity to protect their free speech.
[00:11:25] And having your government ID
[00:11:26] connected to your social media account
[00:11:28] would leave you extremely vulnerable
[00:11:30] to phishing scams and identity theft.
[00:11:33] I don't share my name online
[00:11:35] or anywhere publicly,
[00:11:37] not because I'm shy,
[00:11:38] but because I'm just curious
[00:11:39] to see how long I can keep it up.
[00:11:42] Gaining notoriety,
[00:11:43] but retaining anonymity
[00:11:45] is a unique privilege of the information age.
[00:11:48] So why not take advantage of it?
[00:11:51] The internet is difficult to tame
[00:11:53] because it was built that way.
[00:11:55] This is John Postle,
[00:11:57] a man who once held the unofficial title
[00:11:59] of God of the Internet.
[00:12:01] The US government had contracted John
[00:12:04] to run the root authority
[00:12:06] of the domain name system,
[00:12:08] the closest thing the internet's infrastructure
[00:12:10] has to the top of its hierarchy.
[00:12:13] Basically, when you type in
[00:12:15] twitter.com or paymytaxes.gov,
[00:12:19] the root authority is what makes sure you get there.
[00:12:22] That's an oversimplification,
[00:12:24] but what you need to understand
[00:12:25] is that whoever controls the root authority
[00:12:27] controls access to every website
[00:12:30] and theoretically could delete all of them.
[00:12:33] So when the US government asked John
[00:12:36] to hand control over,
[00:12:37] he said no.
[00:12:39] And this one act of resistance
[00:12:40] would lead to the creation of ICANN,
[00:12:43] an international multi-stakeholder group
[00:12:45] that ensures the global internet
[00:12:47] can't be controlled by a single company
[00:12:50] or government.
[00:12:51] Naturally,
[00:12:52] some governments have resisted this.
[00:12:55] Notably,
[00:12:56] the Chinese government
[00:12:57] have been advocating
[00:12:58] for what they call
[00:12:59] internet sovereignty
[00:13:00] since 2013.
[00:13:02] This is the idea
[00:13:03] that each country
[00:13:04] has the right
[00:13:05] to control
[00:13:06] a separate version
[00:13:07] of the internet
[00:13:08] within their own borders.
[00:13:10] Of course,
[00:13:11] China's internet
[00:13:11] has worked this way
[00:13:12] for decades,
[00:13:13] but it's increasingly
[00:13:14] an attractive option
[00:13:15] to others.
[00:13:17] Iran booted up
[00:13:18] their own version
[00:13:18] and Russia
[00:13:19] are quietly testing
[00:13:21] theirs out.
[00:13:23] And these national firewalls
[00:13:25] are used to restrict
[00:13:26] unwanted information,
[00:13:27] but their main priority
[00:13:28] is to crush organisation
[00:13:30] that happens outside
[00:13:32] of a party political structure.
[00:13:34] And frankly,
[00:13:35] if it is disinformation
[00:13:37] that we're worried about,
[00:13:38] governments
[00:13:39] are the last group
[00:13:40] we should trust
[00:13:41] with regulating it.
[00:13:43] In 2018,
[00:13:45] Facebook COO
[00:13:46] Sheryl Sandberg
[00:13:47] claimed that the company
[00:13:48] deleted over 1.3 billion
[00:13:50] fake accounts
[00:13:51] in just six months.
[00:13:53] A few hundred million
[00:13:54] of them were probably
[00:13:55] cooked up
[00:13:55] in the old
[00:13:56] St. Petersburg office
[00:13:57] of the Internet Research Agency,
[00:14:00] a private company
[00:14:01] owned by a close friend
[00:14:03] of Vladimir Putin
[00:14:04] and a state-funded
[00:14:06] troll army.
[00:14:07] Their job
[00:14:08] is to spread disinformation
[00:14:10] and sow discord online
[00:14:12] with a phantom RB
[00:14:13] of puppet accounts
[00:14:15] and conspiracy theories.
[00:14:17] Their job
[00:14:18] isn't to bolster
[00:14:19] the argument
[00:14:19] of one side
[00:14:20] but to inflame debate
[00:14:22] and make all sides
[00:14:23] look equally ridiculous.
[00:14:24] But this nihilistic
[00:14:26] genre of propaganda
[00:14:27] is incredibly weak
[00:14:29] when it's confronted
[00:14:30] with the sincerity
[00:14:31] of outsiders.
[00:14:33] That's why I think
[00:14:34] Alexei Navalny
[00:14:36] is the most interesting
[00:14:37] person on the Internet
[00:14:38] today.
[00:14:39] If you don't know
[00:14:40] who he is,
[00:14:41] he's a lot of things.
[00:14:43] A dissident,
[00:14:44] lawyer,
[00:14:45] criminal,
[00:14:46] and YouTuber
[00:14:47] who took on
[00:14:48] the Russian government.
[00:14:48] His video on Putin's palace
[00:14:51] got 120 million views,
[00:14:54] which inspires
[00:14:55] professional awe
[00:14:56] and jealousy
[00:14:57] in me.
[00:14:58] And aside from some
[00:14:59] high-budget drone shots,
[00:15:01] there is very little
[00:15:01] new information
[00:15:02] in this video.
[00:15:03] It's a compilation
[00:15:04] of previously available
[00:15:06] sources,
[00:15:07] sometimes decades-old
[00:15:08] information.
[00:15:09] But unlike these
[00:15:10] old sources,
[00:15:11] this video reached
[00:15:12] 25 million people
[00:15:14] in 24 hours
[00:15:15] and delivered this
[00:15:16] information
[00:15:17] in an exciting,
[00:15:18] hilarious,
[00:15:19] and inclusive way.
[00:15:21] After a surviving
[00:15:22] assassination attempt
[00:15:23] and being sentenced
[00:15:24] to a penal colony,
[00:15:25] Navalny is still
[00:15:26] leading resistance
[00:15:27] online.
[00:15:28] The Kremlin
[00:15:29] have duly blocked
[00:15:31] access to this video
[00:15:33] and have blocked
[00:15:35] access to smart
[00:15:36] voting websites,
[00:15:37] which Navalny
[00:15:38] has been propagating.
[00:15:39] We might be frightened
[00:15:40] of mega-platforms,
[00:15:42] but they are empowering
[00:15:43] individuals
[00:15:44] and giving outsiders
[00:15:45] an audience
[00:15:46] that dwarfs the one
[00:15:47] offered by legacy
[00:15:48] media establishments
[00:15:49] that dominated
[00:15:50] the information market
[00:15:51] during the last century.
[00:15:54] And I know it feels
[00:15:55] like we're spending
[00:15:56] our lives flicking
[00:15:57] between the same
[00:15:58] four apps,
[00:15:59] and that's because
[00:16:00] we are.
[00:16:01] Around 80% of
[00:16:02] internet traffic
[00:16:02] is captured by only
[00:16:03] a handful of companies,
[00:16:05] and we're spending
[00:16:06] progressively more
[00:16:07] time with them.
[00:16:08] Thanks to lockdown
[00:16:09] and homeworking,
[00:16:11] internet use in the UK
[00:16:12] doubled in just
[00:16:13] one year.
[00:16:14] And all of those
[00:16:15] Netflix binges
[00:16:16] are putting a strain
[00:16:18] on the internet's
[00:16:19] infrastructure.
[00:16:21] This is a
[00:16:21] hyperscale data center.
[00:16:23] There's around
[00:16:24] 600 of them worldwide,
[00:16:25] and over half of them
[00:16:27] are owned by either
[00:16:28] Amazon, Microsoft,
[00:16:30] Google, or Apple.
[00:16:31] The number of these
[00:16:32] computer cabinet
[00:16:33] labyrinths has doubled
[00:16:35] in the last five years
[00:16:36] to keep up with our
[00:16:37] ever-increasing demand.
[00:16:39] And this has upset
[00:16:41] internet service providers
[00:16:42] who claim that these
[00:16:43] bandwidth-hogging companies
[00:16:45] aren't paying
[00:16:46] their fair share.
[00:16:47] And maybe they aren't.
[00:16:49] And while I do think
[00:16:50] it is concerning
[00:16:51] that so few companies
[00:16:53] control so much
[00:16:54] of the internet,
[00:16:55] I don't think their
[00:16:56] reign is assured.
[00:16:58] Internal projections
[00:16:59] at Facebook show
[00:17:00] that teenagers
[00:17:01] are abandoning
[00:17:02] their platform
[00:17:03] in their droves,
[00:17:04] so much so
[00:17:05] that their American
[00:17:06] user base
[00:17:07] could decrease
[00:17:08] by up to 45%
[00:17:10] in two years.
[00:17:12] I'm not saying
[00:17:13] that the problem
[00:17:13] will solve itself.
[00:17:15] These platforms
[00:17:15] are powerful,
[00:17:16] but only in proportion
[00:17:18] to the time
[00:17:19] and attention
[00:17:20] that we give them.
[00:17:21] It's easy to forget
[00:17:23] that the internet
[00:17:23] is still in its infancy
[00:17:25] and new competitors
[00:17:26] are gathering
[00:17:27] in every corner.
[00:17:30] Then there are
[00:17:31] competitors like
[00:17:32] the super apps,
[00:17:33] and these apps
[00:17:34] are interesting.
[00:17:35] They're mobile only,
[00:17:37] mostly in Asian
[00:17:38] phenomenon so far.
[00:17:40] They are applications
[00:17:41] that position themselves
[00:17:42] as a one-stop shop
[00:17:44] for all your internet-based needs.
[00:17:46] Singapore has Grab,
[00:17:48] Indonesia has GoTo,
[00:17:50] but by far
[00:17:52] the most popular
[00:17:52] is China's WeChat.
[00:17:54] With over 1.3 billion
[00:17:57] active daily users,
[00:17:59] WeChat has integrated
[00:18:00] itself into the fabric
[00:18:01] of normal social life
[00:18:03] in China.
[00:18:04] It's your driver's license,
[00:18:06] your debit card,
[00:18:07] and your phone.
[00:18:08] It's where you pay
[00:18:09] your landlord,
[00:18:10] book flights,
[00:18:11] hotels,
[00:18:11] and doctor's appointments.
[00:18:13] It has supercharged
[00:18:15] China's journey
[00:18:16] towards a cashless society,
[00:18:18] replacing coins
[00:18:19] with QR codes,
[00:18:21] with even the homeless
[00:18:22] forced to upgrade.
[00:18:23] And it is a brilliant tool.
[00:18:26] It has brought
[00:18:26] older generations
[00:18:27] and the industrial
[00:18:29] working class online
[00:18:30] and given them
[00:18:31] easier access
[00:18:32] to essential services.
[00:18:34] But it also
[00:18:35] conveniently bundles up
[00:18:37] all of your personal data,
[00:18:39] private messages,
[00:18:41] and physical whereabouts
[00:18:42] for a government
[00:18:43] with backdoor access.
[00:18:45] The surveillance
[00:18:46] enabled by these
[00:18:48] super apps
[00:18:49] is threatening
[00:18:49] to turn privacy
[00:18:50] into a relic
[00:18:52] of the 20th century.
[00:18:53] Because when there's
[00:18:54] only one platform,
[00:18:56] there's nowhere
[00:18:57] left to hide.
[00:18:59] The internet
[00:19:00] was built
[00:19:01] to be plural,
[00:19:03] to exist
[00:19:03] nowhere in particular,
[00:19:05] and to be accessible
[00:19:06] everywhere.
[00:19:08] Internet culture
[00:19:09] is global culture,
[00:19:11] arguably the first
[00:19:12] ever instance of it,
[00:19:13] and we must ensure
[00:19:15] that everyone
[00:19:16] has equal access.
[00:19:18] No one in this room
[00:19:19] knows what the internet
[00:19:20] will look like
[00:19:21] in 10, 50,
[00:19:23] or 100 years,
[00:19:24] but we can be damn sure
[00:19:26] it will be here.
[00:19:27] It's the greatest invention
[00:19:29] of all of our lifetimes,
[00:19:31] and we must ensure
[00:19:32] that it reflects
[00:19:33] the best of us.
[00:19:35] It must be open,
[00:19:37] inquiring,
[00:19:39] cooperative,
[00:19:40] and suspicious
[00:19:41] of authority.
[00:19:44] Thank you.
[00:19:55] All right,
[00:19:55] that's our show.
[00:19:56] Thanks for listening.
[00:19:58] TED Tech is part
[00:19:59] of the TED Audio Collective.
[00:20:01] This episode was produced
[00:20:02] by Nina Lawrence,
[00:20:03] who also wrote it with me,
[00:20:04] Sherelle Dorsey.
[00:20:06] Our editor
[00:20:06] is Alejandra Salazar,
[00:20:08] and the show
[00:20:09] is fact-checked
[00:20:10] by Julia Dickerson.
[00:20:12] Special thanks
[00:20:12] to Farrah DeGrange.
[00:20:14] If you're enjoying the show,
[00:20:16] make sure to subscribe
[00:20:17] and leave us a review
[00:20:18] so other people
[00:20:19] can find us too.
[00:20:21] I'm Sherelle Dorsey.
[00:20:22] Let's keep digging
[00:20:23] into the future.
[00:20:24] Join me next week
[00:20:25] for more.