Sunstein: Democracy and the Internet

“ D E M O C R A C Y A N D T H E I N T E R N E T ”

Sunstein

Sunstein

“From the standpoint of democracy, filtering is

a mixed blessing …. Above all, I urge that, in a

heterogeneous society, such a [well-

functioning] system [of free expression]

requires something other than free, or publicly

unrestricted, individual choices” (94)

What does Sustein mean by “filtering?” How does the Internet allow us to filter?

In what ways would we say that the ability to filter is good?

What happened to the news?

EPIC 2015

Sunstein

What 2 things do people need in a heterogeneous society (95)?

1. Unanticipated Encounters – encounters with people and ideas we wouldn’t seek out on our own

2. Common Experiences – a shared knowledge of events, stories, and ideas

Public Forum Doctrine

What is the public forum doctrine, and what

are its three functions?

1. speakers access a wide array of people

2. allows access to institutions

3. increases likelihood that people will be exposed to a variety of views

General Interest Intermediaries

What are general interest intermediaries? (98)

What is their role? Why are they necessary?

Group Polarization

What is “group polarization?”

How does it get worse (100)?

1. Public balkanized

2. Different groups design their own preferred communications packages

3. Group members become more polarized

4. Public becomes more balkanized

5. Rinse and Repeat

Specialization and Fragmentation

“People tend to choose like-minded sites and like-minded discussion groups …. It is exceedingly rare for a site with an identifiable point of view to provide links to sites with opposing views; but it is very common for such sites to provide links to like-minded sites” (99).

“The idea is that after deliberating with one another, people are likely to move toward a more extreme point in the direction to which they were originally inclined, as indicated by their predeliberation judgments (99).

Group Polarization: Why?

1) The combination of persuasive arguments combined with what is, and is not, heard within the group.

2) People want to be perceived favorable by other group members. (Think “ad populum” or “bandwagon” fallacies.)

Group Polarization

“Unorganized Militia”

<link: awrm.org>

Social Cascades

What are social cascades? (103)

How do they work?

The question:

Public sphere or enclaves?

What is “consumer sovereignty” (103)?

How might “consumer sovereignty” make it worse?

Social Cascades

“A key point here is that if you lack a great deal of private information, you may well rely on information provided by the statements or actions of others” (103).

What does Sustein mean by this?

“Come on in – the water’s fine!”

“Vaccines cause autism!”

Shared experiences

Why do we need shared experiences?

How does the decline of traditional media cause a problem?

Sustein’s Fundamental Concerns

1) The need to promote exposure to materials, topics, and positions that people wouldn’t have chosen in advance.

2) Value of a range of common experiences

3) The need for exposure to substantive questions of policy and principle, combined with a wide range of positions on such questions

Policy Proposals…

1) Self-regulation– Producers of communication engaging in voluntary self-regulation. This would seek to taper competition by encouraging, but not, regulating a code of conduct that would allow for opposing voices to be heard and promote sound arguments rather than sensationalism.

2) Subsidy – Government subsidized programming and websites to promote “public spheres” for diverse interactions.

3) Links – websites incorporating hyperlinks to help viewers gain access to opposing views on a voluntary basis.

4) Public Sidewalk – The most popular websites at a given time would offer links that help to ensure viewer exposure to diverse ideas.

Small Group Discussion

Which of these policy proposals sounds the most

plausible to you?

Do any of them sound unrealistic?