Marshall McLuhan thought that Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type created the modern world. What kind of society will the Internet create? Will it be a democracy or a surveillance state, like Eastern Germany under the Stasi? We cannot have both! The Internet was developed by the U.S. Government during the Cold War to spy on foreign governments and to identify potential dissidents at home. It was explicitly designed as an instrument of espionage and control. But that was not what its early-stage originators intended, before the government took over. The original inventors were romantic peaceniks who believed that they were creating a good thing for humankind. The powerful in every age have tried to control access to information. Can the new generation of electronic technology experts devise ways to realign the Internet so that it can serve democracy?

中文翻译：

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前言

马歇尔·麦克卢汉（Marshall McLuhan）认为约翰内斯·古腾堡（Johannes Gutenberg）的可移动字体的发明创造了现代世界。互联网将创建什么样的社会？它是民主国家还是监视国家，如斯塔西统治下的东德？我们不能同时拥有！互联网是美国政府在冷战期间开发的，旨在监视外国政府并确定国内的潜在异议人士。它被明确设计为间谍和控制工具。但这并不是政府接管之前其早期发起者的意图。最初的发明者是浪漫的和平主义者，他们相信他们正在为人类创造美好的事物。每个时代的有权者都试图控制对信息的访问。