The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

[Commentary] While technology has great potential to bring about change, there is a dark side to the digital revolution that is too often ignored.

There is a turbulent transition ahead for autocratic regimes as more of their citizens come online, but technology doesn't just help the good guys pushing for democratic reform—it can also provide powerful new tools for dictators to suppress dissent. Fifty-seven percent of the world's population still lives under some sort of autocratic regime. In the span of a decade, the world's autocracies will go from having a minority of their citizens online to a majority. From Tehran to Beijing, autocrats are building the technology and training the personnel to suppress democratic dissent, often with the help of Western companies. The digital revolution will continue. For all the complications this revolution brings, no country is worse off because of the Internet. And with five billion people set to join us online in the coming decades the digital future can be bright indeed, despite its dark side.

[Schmidt is Google's executive chairman. Cohen is the director of Google Ideas.]