The way dictators exploit technology has been a long-time concern for Evgeny Morozov. Morozov believes media and the public have started paying more attention to this in large part because the struggles of the so-called Arab Spring have revealed how fundamental complicity of western-world tech companies has been to the maintenance of oppression in non-industrialized countries. Although the United States has hundreds of laws against engaging in trade with dictatorships, the distribution channels of software or hardware products may conceal transactions with countries that world leaders claim are threats.

Morozov admits that recognizing the good guys from the bad guys is never clear. For example, the new government in Libya that removed Khaddafi, with the technologically sophisticated help of NATO, made banning pornographic websites a priority, while next door, Tunisian security affiliates continue to tamper with email communications of their protestors and dissidents, even inserting pornographic attachments to frame or harass targeted groups. Morozov suspects this kind of attack has an additional effect of undermining confidence that people have in the various technology. As these and many other plots thicken, Morozov says some companies specializing in surveillance complain that regulating or outlawing a corporation's trade with an offending country is a sure job killer in the U.S. In hi-lighting this opinion he shares a fascinating letter written to the Wall Street Journal regarding their investigative reporting on technology companies' trading with dictatorships.