Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has reportedly warned that centralisation of power represents a major threat to democratic institutions.
Speaking at the Net Prophet event in Cape Town, Assange said from the Ecuadorian embassy in London that on one hand, one can see a tendency toward totalising and centralisation that is represented by what is happening at the National Security Agency and by organisations - whether they like it or not, and sometimes it appears they do - that have to feed in to the National Security Agency such as Google, News 24 reports.
On the other hand, Assange said that when one looks at other phenomena, such as the invention of the AK-47 or the printing press: These are technologies that enable dispersal, so they decentralise power.
Assange said that centralisation of information and centralisation of power is a pretty concerning thing.