Episode description

The 'Red Web': The Internet in Russia is a totalitarian tool but is also a device by which totalitarianism can be resisted. Laurie Taylor talks to Andrei Soldatov, a Moscow based journalist and co-author of a book which explores the Russian government's battle with the future of the Internet. Drawing on numerous interviews with officials in the Ministry of Communications, as well as the web activists who resist the Kremlin, he exposes a huge online surveillance state. What hope is there for ordinary digital citizens? They're joined by Natalia Rulyova, a Lecturer in Russian at the University of Birmingham.

Also, older entrepreneurs. Oliver Mallett, Lecturer in Management at the University of Durham, discusses the obstacles faced by late entrants to enterprise culture.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.