There have been a number of recent public debates in which participants have been asked to consider a question of the kind "Does the internet favor dissenters or dictators"? In his recent book Evgeny Morozov argues that this is a fairly meaningless exercise without consideration of the varying social and political contexts of different societies.

More fundamentally, is posing the question in this way akin to asking whether the tide coming in is a good thing or not? A wave of technological change is happening, whether we like it or not, and if we don't, is it sensible to envisage opposing it in some Canute-like fashion?

Are there alternative formulations more likely to lead to worthwhile policy prescriptions?