Top 10 technologies for tyranny

2. Web monitoring
Iain Thomson: Web monitoring companies are growing in popularity every day, both for companies and private individuals.

Most services have a team of monitors who check out web pages and rate them based on their content. Buyers of the service can then be assured that people aren't using their internet connection for anything unsavoury or excessive time wasting. It's a popular area of business, not least because it protects companies against litigation if their staff are caught breaking the law.

Police are also using web monitoring software to check on possible motives for crimes. More than one recent murder case had, as evidence, detailed records of the online searches of suspects and has found searches like 'disposal of bodies' or 'poisoning' which have helped establish guilt.

But some countries have set up their own internal web monitoring systems, notably China, although other countries also practice this. Such systems not only allow content to be blocked at source, but allow the authorities to keep track of what individuals are doing online. They are helped in this by companies operating in the country in question more often than not.

Basically web monitoring is just another form of undercover surveillance but, as the world comes to rely more and more on the internet, web monitoring is becoming more useful as a method for crushing dissent.

Shaun Nichols: Normally people are worried about technologies transitioning from the government sector to the private sector. In the case of web monitoring, however, we hope that the technology stays within the home and away from those in power.

If you're trying to keep your children safe and steer clear of harmful or potentially illegal activity, web monitoring applications can be very useful. If you're a dictatorial regime looking to see who's doing what, it can be a great way to oppress your population and single out possible dissenters.

As with many of the other technologies on our list, web monitoring can become far more dangerous when combined with other tools. If a government were to tie in their monitoring platform with a database on its citizens and GPS tracking or RFID records, you would have a very effective platform for controlling a population.

1. Firewalls
Shaun Nichols: You can't read what you can't see. That is the beautiful thing about the firewall; it lets you block material before it even gets to the user.

Sure, some people might note that firewalls are effective for preventing malware attacks and blocking harmful connections, but those people are missing the big picture that any up and coming dictator can clearly see.

The beauty of the firewall is that it can block out any sort of connection. Don't want users to share files? Block the ports used by P2P programs. Don't want your user to see those pesky news sites that deliver messages counter to your own? Get yourself a big enough firewall and those worries are a thing of the pass.

Still not convinced? Need more evidence that firewalls can be a great way to oppress a population? Well then, how about China as a shining example? The world's most populous nation is able to filter out internet access to more than 1.3 billion people through the use of a well organised and carefully maintained firewall.

Truly, for the ruler who demands the finest in information suppression, the large-scale public firewall is a must.

Iain Thomson: This was a tough call. I wanted web monitoring in the number one slot, and Shaun pointed out that firewalls were currently the most effective tool for tyranny. Eventually he wore me down.

The fact remains that for all the talk of the internet being about freedom of information, firewalls can put a stop to that in an instant. A good firewall operator can shut down a lot of information and censor the truth from those who seek to find it.

China is a great example. Going online there is an experience, and not a good one. You find yourself frustrated by the lack of sites you want and I know a lot of hacks have real problems operating in the country because of this.

But it's worse for the locals. Chatting to a girlfriend of someone in Shanghai I was shocked to find out that she didn't know about the Tiananmen Square atrocity. This was a woman in her early 20s, but she had no knowledge of the fact that her government had gunned down thousands of her countryfolk because the information had no way of getting through. State media wouldn't mention it and the only source of news from the internet was blocked by firewalls.

A successful society relies on the populace being informed about the world (something American TV should remember) and firewalls are the greatest barrier to that.