ABSTRACT
A simple keyword search on the web combining 'web' or 'Internet' with 'democracy' reveals numerous sites in which the Internet is conceived as a medium inherently possessing democratic tendencies, or as an essential new tool for the dissemination and expression of democratic values. The UK government announced in 1998 its intention to connect every school to the Internet, and just about every mention of Internet access in the Good Schools Guide (2003) is delivered in the tone of a selling point. This chapter considers for a moment the social tensions and infringements arising through attempts in the USA to monitor and control web activity in the wake of September 11th. The web's much-vaunted anonymity and resistance to control is a neutral rather than an inherently subversive quality: it can be exploited by terrorists and paedophiles as easily as by any conscience-motivated activist.
