Joi Ito is one of the great pioneers of openness on the internet. He has claimed that it will become "the pillar of democracy for the 21st Century". But with Egypt's so-called Facebook revolution in serious jeopardy and anxieties all over the world that the web is being used by governments to spy on their citizens, is this optimism misplaced?

Razia Iqbal introduces Joi Ito to an audience of listeners world-wide, and they ask him to justify the claims he makes for the benign power of the web.

Live with an audience of the public at MIT's Media Lab in Boston, USA.

Producer: Charlie Taylor

(Image: Joi Ito, Credit: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images) Show less