Paper short abstract:

The paper highlights the interaction between governance by and of internet platforms. It explores the current state of the "Californian Ideology" (Barbrook/Cameron 1995; Turner 2006) and how it has become materialised in technical infrastructures, products, and economic mechanisms (Morozov 2015).

Paper long abstract:

Most of the most influential internet technology platform companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple are located in the Silicon Valley. Here, a special "Californian Ideology" is prevalent, characterised in an canonic article by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron (1996) as a "contradictory mix of technological determinism and libertarian individualism" also termed as "dotcom neoliberalism". How does this belief and value system translate to the rest of the world? And how is it being diffused - by the technical infrastructures, the products themselves, by economic powers, or by other mechanisms?

The presentation will inquire the economic and cultural powers of these information infrastructure companies and ask about their implications for politics and democracy in Europe. The underlying thesis is that institutional policy-making and the state are sidelined by supposed "direct" interactions with citizens. Citizens are addressed as customers, and contract law is used to make them accept the terms and conditions of services. Network effects, lock-in, economies of scale and other mechanisms may increase private power at the expense of public regulation. Countercultural ideas of direct democracy, transparency and sharing legitimize services and are transformed into customer relationships (Morozov 2015; Schneier 2015; Kitchin 2014; Lyon 2014.).