Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom [NOOK Book]

( 1 )
NOOK Book (eBook)
$14.84
BN.com price
$26.99 List Price (Save 45%)

Available on NOOK devices and apps

  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for iPad
  • NOOK for iPhone
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK for Android (Tablet)
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

Overview

The Internet was going to liberate us, but in truth it has not. For every story about the web’s empowering role in events such as the Arab Spring, there are many more about the quiet corrosion of civil liberties by companies and governments using the same digital technologies we have come to depend upon. Sudden changes in Facebook’s features and privacy settings have exposed identities of protestors to police in Egypt and Iran. Apple removes politically controversial apps at the behest of governments as well as for its own commercial reasons. Dozens of Western companies sell surveillance technology to dictatorships around the world. Google struggles with censorship demands from governments in a range of ...
See more details below

More About This Book

Overview

The Internet was going to liberate us, but in truth it has not. For every story about the web’s empowering role in events such as the Arab Spring, there are many more about the quiet corrosion of civil liberties by companies and governments using the same digital technologies we have come to depend upon. Sudden changes in Facebook’s features and privacy settings have exposed identities of protestors to police in Egypt and Iran. Apple removes politically controversial apps at the behest of governments as well as for its own commercial reasons. Dozens of Western companies sell surveillance technology to dictatorships around the world. Google struggles with censorship demands from governments in a range of countries—many of them democracies—as well as mounting public concern over the vast quantities of information it collects about its users. In Consent of the Networked, journalist and Internet policy specialist Rebecca MacKinnon argues that it is time to fight for our rights before they are sold, legislated, programmed, and engineered away. Every day, the corporate sovereigns of cyberspace make decisions that affect our physical freedom—but without our consent. Yet the traditional solution to unaccountable corporate behavior—government regulation—cannot stop the abuse of digital power on its own, and sometimes even contributes to it.

A clarion call to action, Consent of the Networked shows that it is time to stop arguing over whether the Internet empowers people, and address the urgent question of how technology should be governed to support the rights and liberties of users around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
A global Internet policy advocate, MacKinnon argues in this fascinating and provocative book that it’s time to stop debating whether the Internet is an effective tool for political expression and to move on to the much more urgent question of how digital technology can be structured, governed, and used to maximize the good it can do in the world and minimize the evil. The first step in such a process involves building broader public awareness and participation; individuals must stop thinking of themselves as passive consumers of the Internet and start acting like citizens of the Internet, or “netizens.” Some activists have urged that individuals should build their own networked intellectual commons rather than relying on the Internet. In 2011, Access Now, an Internet freedom advocacy group, drafted the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet, advocating 10 principles, ranging from universality and equality, accessibility, and rights and social justice to diversity and network equality. Embracing this document, MacKinnon forcefully and passionately urges us to stake out our Internet rights before governments or corporations completely take those rights away from us. (Feb.)
Booklist
A vitally important analysis of Internet manipulation that should be read by anyone relying on the web for work or pleasure.
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
Library Journal
MacKinnon's (Bernard L. Schwartz fellow, New America Fdn.) persuasive book clearly describes the mechanisms—both technical and political—that governments and corporations use to curtail citizen's rights in the United States and around the world. She uses many real-life examples and anecdotes to illustrate the complex web of policy and technical infrastructure that allows governments and corporate interests to censor, surveil, and otherwise impede free expression and individual liberty. These encroachments on individual liberty are happening in a space where average people tend to think of themselves as passive users rather than active citizens. MacKinnon argues for citizens to empower themselves against these repressive forces by demanding that software companies and others shaping the technological landscape be held accountable. VERDICT MacKinnon's book is required reading for anyone interested in global information policy. Both lay and academic readers will enjoy her clear prose and methodical approach. Anecdotes and real-life applications make the book accessible without sacrificing depth and insight. An important, timely, and persuasive rallying cry.—Rachel Bridgewater, Portland Community Coll., OR
Kirkus Reviews
An incisive overview of the global struggle for Internet freedom. MacKinnon, a former CNN journalist in Beijing and now online-policy guru at the New America Foundation, warns of the threats to online free expression and assembly at a time when our political lives are highly dependent on digital services and platforms largely owned by the private sector. The corporations and governments that govern cyberspace ("sovereigns operating without the consent of the networked"), she writes, are not being held sufficiently accountable. In her wide-ranging book, MacKinnon details the many ways in which governments, corporations and others are using the Internet--from empowering people to helping authoritarian dictators survive. In China in 2009, online citizen protests forced the government to drop murder charges against a waitress who inadvertently killed a Party official while fighting off his sexual advances. But the Internet also serves as a means of political control for the Chinese government, whose complex censorship system is able to distort the information on issues and events reaching people, including educated elites. Although China is the most advanced case, other authoritarian regimes take similar advantage of their power over private networks and platforms. In the United States, writes the author, present laws and policies make it "vastly easier for government agencies to track and access citizens' private digital communications than it is for authorities to search or carry out surveillance of our physical homes, offices, vehicles, and mail." With all governments now using technology to defend their interests, it is time to develop innovative ways to hold companies accountable for business, software and engineering choices. The author describes the hopeful emergence of a decentralized "transnational movement to defend and expand Internet freedom," which might eventually shift the balance of power. At the same time, individuals must raise their awareness of online-freedom issues, becoming citizens of the Internet--"netizens"--rather than passive users. An informed call to action by the "networked" to protect their rights.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780465029297
  • Publisher: Basic Books
  • Publication date: 1/31/2012
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 198,640
  • File size: 479 KB

Meet the Author

Rebecca MacKinnon works on global internet policy as a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. She is co-founder of Global Voices Online, a global citizen media network that amplifies online citizen voices from around the world. She is also on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and worked for CNN in Beijing for nine years. Recently, she was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. MacKinnon is frequently interviewed by major media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Financial Times, National Public Radio, BBC, and other news outlets. She lives in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction: After the Revolution xix

Part 1 Disruptions

1 Consent and Sovereignty 3

Corporate Superpowers 6

Legitimacy 12

2 Rise of the Digital Commons 15

The Technical Commons 17

Activism 21

Balance of Power 25

Part 2 Control 2.0

3 Networked Authoritarianism 31

How China's Censorship Works 34

Authoritarian Deliberation 40

Western Fantasies Versus Reality 47

4 Variants and Permutations 51

"Constitutional" Technology 53

Corporate Collaboration 56

Divide and Conquer 62

Digital Bonapartism 66

Part 3 Democracy's Challenges

5 Eroding Accountability 75

Surveillance 76

WikiLeaks and the Fate of Controversial Speech 82

6 Democratic Censorship 87

Intentions Versus Consequences 88

Saving the Children 94

7 Copywars 99

Shunning Due Process 101

Aiding Authoritarianism 104

Lobbynomics 108

Part 4 Sovereigns of Cyberspace

8 Corporate Censorship 115

Net Neutrality 116

Mobile Complications 122

Big Brother Apple 126

9 Do No Evil 131

Chinese Lessons 133

Flickr Fail 139

Buzz Bust 141

Privacy and Facebook 144

10 Facebookistan and Googledom 149

Double Edge 151

Inside the Leviathan 153

Google Governance 159

Implications 164

Part 5 What is to Be Done?

11 Trust, but Verify 169

The Regulation Problem 173

Shared Value 175

The Global Network Initiative 179

Lessons from Other Industries 182

12 In Search of "Internet Freedom" Policy 187

Washington Squabbles 188

Goals and Methods 191

Democratic Discord 196

Civil Society Pushes Back 200

13 Global Internet Governance 203

The United Nations Problem 204

ICANN-Can You? 209

14 Building a Netizen-Centric Internet 221

Strengthening the Netizen Commons 223

Expanding the Technical Commons 227

Utopianism Versus Reality 232

Getting Political 237

Corporate Transparency and Netizen Engagement 243

Personal Responsibility 248

Notes 251

Index 283

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 1 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Posted March 22, 2012

    good read

    This book has opened my eyes to many things that are hindering the liberation of the web.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit