What is the New Digital Age, and who will benefit from it? Is the internet really the great leveller, or is the reality more complex? How can we protect privacy, and will technology be a force for good in the future?
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Director of Google Ideas Jared Cohen discussed all of these questions and more with Dean Ngaire Woods on 21 May at Oxford’s historic Sheldonian Theatre. Dr Schmidt is a member of the Blavatnik School's International Advisory Board. He and Mr Cohen have recently published a book entitled ‘The New Digital Age’, on how they think technology will shape the future.
The book explores what will happen when 5 billion more people come online, which the authors predict will take place in the next 5 to 10 years. Currently, about 2 billion people are internet users. But what kinds of opportunities and challenges will spring up when 5 billion more are added to that number? And how will governments react?
According to Schmidt and Cohen, many of these 5 billion live in countries where free expression is not a guaranteed right. Coming online will empower them to demand more efficiency and transparency, but it is also likely to make their governments nervous. There is a risk that states will try to regulate the internet in their own image, possibly leading to a ‘balkanisation’ of the internet, with governments establishing spheres of cyber influence and censoring information. This is already happening in China, although users of microblogging sites like Sina Weibo frequently challenge the official line.
Those who were involved in developing the internet in its early days believed it would be the ‘great leveller’, Schmidt explained, admitting that with hindsight this belief looks rather simplistic. In reality, the internet has the power to create ‘great winners’. The evidence shows that though the poor do receive some benefit from coming online, the rich benefit enormously, widening the gap between them.
Online privacy is also a significant issue, and the addition of 5 billion users will only make it more pressing. Both Schmidt and Cohen emphasised a balance of responsibility: companies are responsible for protecting users’ personal data, but users must also act with caution and foresight. Cohen said that parents had an important responsibility to explain data permanence and the potential future ramifications of explicit material to their children.
Above all, Schmidt and Cohen believe in free expression, and they believe technology plays an integral part in furthering it. Both believe in the empowerment of all through technology. Time will tell whether all who wield this power share Google’s mantra: Don’t be evil.
Eric Schmidt is the Executive Chairman of Google and a member of the Blavatnik School of Government's International Advisory Board. Jared Cohen is the Director of Google Ideas. Their recent book, ''A New Digital Age: Reshaping the future of peoples, nations and business" is published by Knopf.
