"Granick was at some of the first DEF CON meetings and is a geek and lawyer who is passionate about the possibilities of a connected society. But we're in deep trouble, she warned – a message echoed by her warm-up guy Moss.
When Granick first got online in the 1980s it was hoped that the internet would enable a global conversation where gender, race, and creed became unimportant compared to ideas, she said. Censorship would be routed round, governments would become more open, and the spread of information would benefit humanity, was the assumption.
Instead, she said, sexism, race relations, and religious intolerance had proved stronger than expected and the internet was increasingly being used to reinforce existing power structures rather than break them down."