The Control Revolution: How the Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge and Changing the World We Know - Hardcover

Shapiro, Andrew L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1891620193 ISBN 13: 9781891620195

Publisher: PublicAffairs,U.S., 1999

Synopsis

Andrew L. Shapiro, contributing editor at The Nation , cuts through the hype to explain how the Internet revolution has really affected our lives and identifies the pot holes in the road ahead.. Dissidents around the world use the Internet to evade censorship and get their message out. Cyber-gossips send dispatches to thousands via email. Musicians bypass record companies and put their songs on the world wide web for fans to download directly. Day traders roil the stock market, buying securities online with the click of a mouse and then selling minutes later when the price jumps. The Control Revolution argues that there is a common thread underlying such developments. It is not just a change in how we compute or communicate. Rather, it is a potentially radical shift in who is in controlof information, experience, and resources. Shapiro explains how new technology is allowing individual s to take power from large institutions such as government, corporations, and the media; shows how powerful entities are trying to limit our new digitally enabled autonomy; warns that individual control can be pushed too far; and describes how we can reap the benefits of the new control without succumbing either to resistance or to excess. Along the way, Shapiro explores cyberporn and censorship, customized news delivery, electronic commerce, online democracy, Microsofts market power, encryption and law enforcement, copyright in the digital age, virtual communities, Matt Drudge, privacy, and the role of interactive technology in struggles against political tyranny.

About this title

From the Publisher

Reviews
"With scrupulous documentation and a knowledgeable but unpatronizing tone, Shapiro delivers a penetrating analysis of both the promise and peril of the digital future." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Shapiro has this brilliantly nailed.... It's hard to imagine a more timely book about the real significance of the Internet." --Jon Katz, Slashdot

From the Author

A brief note
Pundits and politicians speak in broad-brush terms about an information revolution or a communications revolution. But I never really understood those terms. To me, revolutions are all about struggle and crisis, a clash of values, and ultimately a fragile reordering of the social landscape.

Is that what the Internet is doing to society? I was skeptical at first. But after five years of study, I have come to believe that new technology is enabling fundamental changes, particularly regarding the status of the individual in society. The Net is giving each of us the ability to control aspects of life that were previously controlled by our most powerful institutions: government, corporations, and the news media. We can decide for ourselves what information we're exposed to; how we learn and work; whom we socialize with; and even how goods are distributed and political outcomes are reached. This development deserves to be seen as revolutionary.

But it's not a revolution we can yet celebrate -- for it has all the tenuous attributes of any political upheaval. There is resistance from institutions struggling to maintain their authority. And there is a grave danger that we will push the revolution too far, blinding ourselves to the need for balance between personal indulgence and commitment to something more. Technology bestows great privileges upon us. The question is whether we will shoulder the responsibilities that accompany them.

Edition details

• Publisher: PublicAffairs,U.S.
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1891620193
• ISBN 13: 9781891620195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304