Why North Koreans Prefer Word of Mouth Over Email

In a Country Where Dissent Is Harshly Punished, a Digital Footprint Isn't Worth the Risk

Twenty years after it began changing lives in other countries, the internet isn’t even a concept for the average North Korean—so much so that most people in the country of 25 million literally don’t know what they are missing.

And that’s by design.

One of the pillars of Kim Jong Un’s vise-grip on the lives of his people is propaganda: All news originates from the same government propaganda bureau, photographs and video of Kim are tightly coordinated, and there is absolutely no independent media. There’s no satellite TV, and there are no …

Why the U.S. Should Stop Lecturing the World About “Internet Values”

Clueless Optimism and Bull-Headed Arrogance Make the World Safe for Big Tech, Not Real People

The World Wide Web might have been invented by a Briton working for a European research organization, but let’s face it: The internet is American. The world’s richest tech firms …

How Pokémon Go Can Save Lives in a Hurricane

Players Could Mobilize by Donating Blood, Filling Sandbags, and Evacuating Threatened Areas

Twenty years ago, when millions of people were displaced by a storm like Hurricane Matthew, we’d see convoys of temporary trailers being towed into stricken areas to shelter the newly …

Why Not to Trust “Buy Now” Buttons

Digital Media Ownership Is Partly Based on Lies

The multibillion-dollar digital media marketplace is built, in part, on a lie. Companies like Apple and Amazon entice their customers to “buy now” and “own it in HD.” But consumers …

Assault by (Loaded) Tweet?

Words Can Serve as Weapons Under the Right Circumstance

Social media has raised tricky questions that judges are beginning to try to answer. It’s been found possible to violate a restraining order by becoming an unwanted Instagram follower, or …

The Future of Libraries Has Three Different Paths

From a Single, Globally Accessible Collection to Nonexistent, Imagining the Institutions in 2100

So what will libraries be like in 2100?

That’s not so very far away. The next time you see a tiny baby, bear in mind that she or he has a …