Does the Internet inhibit or encourage democracy?

Evgeny Morozov explores the implicit assumption  of  'cyber-utopianism' - the idea that the Internet plays a large role in global politics and the movement towards democracy. But what are the actual uses and abuses of the Internet? -- downloading pornography, watching videos of funny cats on YouTube and 'liking' each other on Facebook?
 
Meanwhile the authorities are harvesting the information about you and your friends.