UPDATE [5 April 2012] here’s the video of the event:

I’m interviewing author and researcher Rebecca MacKinnon on Thursday at the RSA at 1pm. Rebecca is the author of Consent of the Networked, a public-facing epic tome outlining the political undercurrents of the current crop of web/tech leaders (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon). Her book is a fascinating and important read, part of a crop of analyses of the contemporary web space that unpicks the implications of our transactions with US corporations. She achieves her aim without an overdose of techno-utopianism or techno-pessimism.

MacKinnon offers a welcome interpretation of this subject, drawing on her research at Harvard’s Berkman Centre, and on her previous career as CNN’s China correspondent. I had the pleasure of speaking with Rebecca about the book and her experience observing the changes in China as the Internet began penetrating that country on The Guardian’s tech podcast, Tech Weekly. The podcast offers a preview of the discussion she and I will have on Thursday.

Unfortunately the RSA event has already sold out, but you can listen to the livestream here, or you can watch the video when it’s loaded onto the site. You can also listen to the Tech Weekly interview here.

Here’s the blurb from the event:

Many commentators have debated whether the Internet is ultimately a force for freedom of expression and political liberation, or for alienation, and repression.

Rebecca MacKinnon moves the debate about the Internet’s political impact to a new level. It is time, she says, to stop arguing over whether the Internet empowers individuals and societies, and address the more fundamental and urgent question of how technology should be structured and governed to support the rights and liberties of all the world’s Internet users.

Drawing upon two decades of experience as an international journalist, co-founder of the citizen media network Global Voices, Chinese Internet censorship expert, and Internet freedom activist, MacKinnon offers a framework for concerned citizens to understand the complex and often hidden power dynamics amongst governments, corporations, and citizens in cyberspace. She warns that a convergence of unchecked government actions and unaccountable company practices threatens the future of democracy and human rights around the world.

Rebecca MacKinnon visits the RSA to give us a call to action: Our freedom in the Internet age depends on whether we defend our rights on digital platforms and networks in the same way that people fight for their rights and accountable governance in physical communities and nations. It is time to stop thinking of ourselves as passive “users” of technology and instead act like citizens of the Internet – as netizens – and take ownership and responsibility for our digital future.