“We have to think about technology as we think about the bank” – TVI24

Researcher and author Evgeny Morozov said on Friday, in Porto, that the digital society does not exist as such and is the result of creating a set of North American companies whose purpose profit.

During a subordinate discussion on “Digital I”, also attended by the writer David Brin, within the conference “Brave New World – The future has arrived too soon” , organized by the Foundation Francisco Manuel dos Santos at Casa da Música in Porto, Morozov said that when you look at the technologies surrounding it, such as Facebook, Google or Twitter, “there is no way to escape the fact that they are all provided by a handful of American companies for profit. ”

“The problem is that we stopped to aim high” , said Evgeny Morozov, who said that citizens need to claim for themselves the benefits of technology, so that no are only on the side of the companies.

The technology companies “have a business model that tries to learn as much as possible about you, because they sell ads based on what we know about it.”

“The idea that there is no alternative with respect to Silicon Valley, with regard to technology is false. We need to make technology a political process. We need to start thinking about technology in the same way we think about banking, the food industry, “said the author of books like” The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom “

The researcher who underwent US universities like Stanford or Georgetown, said that questions such as “Who manages what? Who should manage the infrastructure? Who should manage the information “were removed from the discussion:” And we should bring them back. “