Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

My rating:

add to my books

Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

by Jack L. Goldsmith, Tim Wu (Goodreads Author)

3.59 · rating details · 93 ratings · 17 reviews

Is the Internet erasing national borders? Will the future of the Net be set by Internet engineers, rogue programmers, the United Nations, or powerful countries? Who's really in control of what's happening on the Net?
In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensu...moreIs the Internet erasing national borders? Will the future of the Net be set by Internet engineers, rogue programmers, the United Nations, or powerful countries? Who's really in control of what's happening on the Net?
In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensuing battles with governments around the world. It's a book about the fate of one idea--that the Internet might liberate us forever from government, borders, and even our physical selves. We learn of Google's struggles with the French government and Yahoo's capitulation to the Chinese regime; of how the European Union sets privacy standards on the Net for the entire world; and of eBay's struggles with fraud and how it slowly learned to trust the FBI. In a decade of events the original vision is uprooted, as governments time and time again assert their power to direct the future of the Internet. The destiny of the Internet over the next decades, argue Goldsmith and Wu, will reflect the interests of powerful nations and the conflicts within and between them.
While acknowledging the many attractions of the earliest visions of the Internet, the authors describe the new order, and speaking to both its surprising virtues and unavoidable vices. Far from destroying the Internet, the experience of the last decade has lead to a quiet rediscovery of some of the oldest functions and justifications for territorial government. While territorial governments have unavoidable problems, it has proven hard to replace what legitimacy governments have, and harder yet to replace the system of rule of law that controls the unchecked evils of anarchy. While the Net will change some of the ways that territorial states govern, it will not diminish the oldest and most fundamental roles of government and challenges of governance.
Well written and filled with fascinating examples, including colorful portraits of many key players in Internet history, this is a work that is bound to stir heated debate in the cyberspace community.(less)

Hardcover, 226 pages

Published April 1st 2006 by Oxford University Press (first published February 24th 2006)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler

The Future Of The Internet And How To Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain

How to Build a Computer by John Gower III

Personal Connections in the Digital Age by Nancy Baym

Unknown Book 13025493 by Unknown Author 494

Best Internet Studies Books

9th out of 18 books — 3 voters

Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner

Silicon Valley

61st out of 103 books — 34 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 240)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 15, 2011

Sarah Cypher rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

Written accessibly by a Harvard law professor and one from Columbia, this is the kind of "new history" that should probably, soon, become an essential part of our standard education about the world. It explains how the Internet came to be, why it failed as a truly borderless space, and how and why meatspace issues such as censorship, commerce, politics, and even warfare have begun to duplicate themselves in cyberspace.

Although published in 2006, this book is worth talking ab...moreWritten accessibly by a Harvard law professor and one from Columbia, this is the kind of "new history" that should probably, soon, become an essential part of our standard education about the world. It explains how the Internet came to be, why it failed as a truly borderless space, and how and why meatspace issues such as censorship, commerce, politics, and even warfare have begun to duplicate themselves in cyberspace.

Although published in 2006, this book is worth talking about now for two reasons. First, it's interesting. I have been studying power and coercion for a while, and these ought to be issues relegated to the physical world, a.k.a., meatspace. The body is the ultimate place of enforcement. Without the threat of pain or imprisonment, there is no ultimate consequence to lend force to a demand. The Internet's early popularity in the late 80s and early 90s was due in part to the recognition that cyberspace was different: there was no such thing as a painful consequence. When people organized themselves there, they did it anarchically, and the system worked because no one could aggregate disproportionate force.

Which brings me to the second reason why the book is important. The Internet's history ought to be taught in classrooms: it has founders, inventors, competing systems of governance, and international drama. For instance, the Internet's early anarchic structure failed when the U.S. government reasserted its rights to the root servers (citing that the Internet's invention in the 60s was funded by a DARPA contract). The reason was money. Capitalism. Now, it's an opportune time to mention that I believe that history, as a course of study, exists to give us perspective on why we do what we do, and why our environment looks the way it does; as opposed to just acting on guesswork, assumption, and blind tradition. And given this premise, I will also voice a supposition that if this particular history is excluded from public school curricula, the cause is not mere oversight. As long as the Internet is a cornerstone of U.S. commerce, its historical, anarchic roots are a threat to the cultural assumption that unregulated capitalism is the only route to freedom.

As Dave Clark, one of the Internet's founding minds, says: "We reject: kings, presidents, and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code."

If you're reading this review, I'm guessing you spend a fair chunk of time on the Internet. As long as the Internet is a tool that consumes a great deal of our lives, influences our understanding of the world, and can fail or be forcibly removed from our lives, it is worth understanding--therein lies the ability to judge fair and worthy use from trivial, stupid, or malicious use.

Note: I may change my rating to five stars after finishing the book, but I have not yet finished digesting the authors' premise that the nation-state is in fact essential to the Internet's stability. From a pragmatic standpoint (which is perhaps the only relevant one), they are likely correct. But my bias is toward idealism, and I would yet like to find some possibility for a stable, long-term form of Dave Clark's manifesto in cyberspace.(less)

like 5 likes

· see review

Nov 10, 2010

Elizabeth added it

Who Controls the Internet, by Jack L. Goldsmith and Tim Wu, tells about the history of the internet and how the development of the internet brought battles between governments around the world. The introduction begins with the story of the Yahoo case in 2000, which involved the illegal postings of Nazi paraphernalia on Yahoo servers and how that stirred a fight between Yahoo and the French government. The first part of the book, called The Internet Revolution, talks about the founders of the int...moreWho Controls the Internet, by Jack L. Goldsmith and Tim Wu, tells about the history of the internet and how the development of the internet brought battles between governments around the world. The introduction begins with the story of the Yahoo case in 2000, which involved the illegal postings of Nazi paraphernalia on Yahoo servers and how that stirred a fight between Yahoo and the French government. The first part of the book, called The Internet Revolution, talks about the founders of the internet and the struggles among individuals, independent engineering groups, and the United States government, all with a purpose to gain control of the internet. In part 2 of the book, Wu and Goldsmith strongly stress the importance of government control and its role in internet growth. They elaborate on the influence of geography and how borders are established. The third part of the book reveals the associates and assets of government control. Goldsmith and Wu conclude the book by expressing that geography, nations that have different ways of living, and government force, have all been essential to the development of the internet. And finally, the authors explicate that the future of the internet will be built by powerful nations, and the states that protect their way of life.
Tim Wu, the co-author of Who Controls the Internet?, is a professor at Columbia Law School, the chairman of media reform organization Free Press, and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He graduated from McGill University and Harvard Law School. In 2006, he was recognized as one of the top 50 leaders in science and technology by Scientific American magazine. The next year, Wu
was accounted for one of Harvard's 100 most influential graduates in 02138 Magazine. Tim Wu has written about copyright, international trade, and the study of law-breaking (timwu.org/bio.html).
Jack L. Goldsmith, the other author of Who Controls the Internet?, is a Professor at Harvard Law School. Currently, he has a J.D. from Yale Law School, a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University, and a B.A. from Washington and Lee University (econclubmemphis.org/speakers/goldsmith_b...). His areas of interest in research include, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Foreign Relations Law, and more. Before pending to Harvard University, he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel for the Department of Justice.
The main arguments of this book are that: (1) government control is important to the growth of the internet; (2) geographical divisions distinguish regions by daily lifestyles and are essential for the efficiency of the internet; (3) the future of the internet will be directed by the power of nations and their efforts to shape the internet of what they desire it to be. The first point made by the authors relate to contemporary life today, because they are arguing that without government control, the internet would be a mess. For example, if there was no government regulating the internet, private companies such as EBay, would be conquered by villains (Goldsmith and Wu 140). Similarly, today’s society would be same if there was no government regulation. Criminals would be robbing banks, vandalism would be everywhere, and traffic would be very dangerous. The second argument explains that the borders of the world are determined by differences in everyday lives, such as daily needs, language, culture, etc., and that all of this is important for the internet to work proficiently. Outside the internet world, each nation is divided by many different factors, including laws, and cultural differences. This is what makes up each country and what makes them unique. It is the desires of how people want to live their lives and being able to do so, allows everyone to be happy and reduces conflicts within different regions. In other words, divisions make the world a more efficient whole. Of course the whole world can’t always get along. There are still many debates among nations, and the race to power is constantly happening. That is why the idea that the future of the internet will be determined by powerful nations and their desires, connects back to contemporary life today. There is war even going on right now, because nations disagree on who gets control and how they want to go about taking control.
Who controls the internet? is overall a very powerful and detailed book. Personally, it was very difficult to follow; however, once I interpreted the text, I realized that the authors had an excellent stance. Their main audience is directed towards college students and generally an older audience, so this book may be difficult for the younger crowd to read. They provide many strong examples throughout the book to support their arguments, as well as provide ones that are interesting. The authors frequently pull in the reader by relating to them through stories such as the development of virtual communities and things like Facebook. The one problem I did notice was that the book goes too much in depth with explaining stories/case studies. It starts to distract the reader from the main focus. Other than that, this book is especially influential and will leave any reader questioning.

Works Cited

Biography - Tim Wu." Tim Wu's Home Page. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. <http://www.timwu.org/bio.html>.

Goldsmith Bio." Economic Club of Memphis --- Intro Page... Web. 15 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.econclubmemphis.org/speakers/goldsmith_bio.html>.
(less)

· see review

Nov 11, 2010

Nathan Johnson rated it

· review of another edition

In the book, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Tim Wu and Jack Goldsmith examine the recent boom of the internet. They explain that even though the internet gives its users virtually instant excess to shop, communicate, learn, teach, explore, etc., there are still borders and restrictions on this seemingly infinite online universe. It is argued by the authors that because of geography, persistence of physicality, and lack of means to centralize culture, the world will r...moreIn the book, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, Tim Wu and Jack Goldsmith examine the recent boom of the internet. They explain that even though the internet gives its users virtually instant excess to shop, communicate, learn, teach, explore, etc., there are still borders and restrictions on this seemingly infinite online universe. It is argued by the authors that because of geography, persistence of physicality, and lack of means to centralize culture, the world will remain unique to its location (Goldsmith, and Wu 49-52). Wu, in a lecture, has stated that “people who are curious as to what happens when you push the limits”, will enjoy this book. A main theme discussed in this book was the illusions that the internet forms. Wu and Goldsmith give many examples that seem to provide evidence that the internet allows people all over the world to connect with each other and experience different cultures that otherwise would not be experienced. While Wu and Goldsmith express on the title that the internet provides and “illusion”, it is often hard to differentiate between the illusion of a borderless world, as shown by the title, and the examples used by Wu and Goldsmith that appear to prove an actual borderless world. This confusion stems from the numerous examples that are created and explained briefly in this book. With these examples that provide views to both a borderless world and a very bordered world, it becomes necessary to re-read portions of the book. Upon completion, the examples provided make sense, and allow for greater understanding of Goldsmith and Wu’s viewpoint.

The best parts of Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World are the examples that include commonly known entities such as Yahoo example given in the first chapter. In this Yahoo example, Wu and Goldsmith discuss Yahoo’s encounter with the French government. In this example, a man named Marc Knobel finds Nazi memorabilia being sold through the web host, Yahoo (Goldsmith, and Wu 1). Wu and Goldsmith explore the realm of the internet by examining the implications of the Nazi memorabilia being sold in America on the French government, because it was available for purchase in France. Wu and Goldsmith explain that even though there are serious borders between America and France, the French government had to power to intervene on the matter. As a whole, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, as mentioned earlier, is a book for people who are curious as to what happens when you push the limits. The examples keep your attention while the explanations are interesting and draw the reader in. The two authors have vast knowledge in the field of Law, thus allowing them to explain with necessary detail the legality of many situations that occur in the book. Jack Goldsmith is a Professor at Harvard Law School, and Tim Wu is a Professor at Columbia Law School. Wu has also worked in the internet telecommunications industry in Silicon Valley giving him firsthand experience in the realm of the internet.(less)

· see review

Jan 19, 2012

Malcolm MacLean rated it

Shelves: academia

One of the great fantasies of the Internet era is that it would be beyond the control of states, of governments, of the dominant forces of the non-virtual world (‘meatspace’ as the Internet’s denizens used to call it) – but of course we only know that this was a fantasy with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight: during the late 1980s and through much of the 1990s when Internet was the domain of a few anything seemed possible. Sure, it was a hassle; in the days before Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) –...moreOne of the great fantasies of the Internet era is that it would be beyond the control of states, of governments, of the dominant forces of the non-virtual world (‘meatspace’ as the Internet’s denizens used to call it) – but of course we only know that this was a fantasy with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight: during the late 1980s and through much of the 1990s when Internet was the domain of a few anything seemed possible. Sure, it was a hassle; in the days before Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) – the kind of screens we have now where we click on icons and the like – we used code, getting into our ‘Crosstalk’ systems (or whatever communications programme we had to let us ‘talk’ in real time with others) by writing oddly structured series of words, symbols and numbers, and relied on a myriad other terms and symbols to make ourselves understood. Other than long lines of code-soaked written communications, about the best we could do was get access to other databases (for some reason, from my desktop in New Zealand, everything needed to go through the University of Minnesota library before I could do anything else with our ‘gopher’). It was basic, and it was far from simple. The paradox is that as the system got easier (in large part, thanks to the democratising effects of GUIs) its governance and control got more difficult, where a big factor was quite simply that the bigger the Internet community, the more difficult it became to be self-governing and regulating.

This book does two things really well. First, it takes into the early days of Internet development, well before the world wide web existed, and give us a sense of the utopian vision of the scientists and engineers who both developed it and saw it as a zone of free communication and activity – while, ironically, under contract to the US Defence Dept (or, specifically, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – DARPA) – and their efforts to wrest control and governance away from the US government in favour of Internet users, most obviously in the mid to late 1990s. So, it is a very good history of the development of the Internet. Second, and equally impressively, it unpacks clearly the significant conflicts between the Internet-as-free-community ideology and the coercive powers of the state (or multiple states, as the case may be) while also pointing to the paradox that Internet’s existence and ability to do what it does (allow communication, facilitate commerce and the like) is entirely dependent on the secure foundations provided by states and their legal systems.

Goldsmith and Wu have the ability take what should, in many ways, be specialist and fairly dull legal and political science debates and make them clear and accessible, in part because they have the ability work with a telling case to build a narrative that exposes and reveals the central legal and political issues of their argument. At the heart of the case is the simple fact of state sovereignty, and the desire of states and their governments to make decisions that are seen (by those in charge, at least) to be in the best interests of those state and their peoples.

Implicit in the case, and to my mind the telling silence of the book, is that a (the?) key force driving this is the commercialisation of the Internet – as it became not only a thing that allowed business and trade to take place, but as it acquired value in and of itself. That is, as the Internet and World Wide Web it supports became both a producer and a thing of value and a generator of wealth. Had Goldsmith and Wu paid more explicit attention to this dynamic I suspect their emphasis on notions of ‘speech’ as the key tension in Internet policy and governance may have become more nuanced, but possibly not. They are, after all, lawyers, and a very large number of the cases fought over internet-related matters have been constructed as free speech cases, where in the US at least the issues become constitutional questions centred on the 1st Amendment. It may be that in other areas, this speech-based approach is not as dominant: for instance on British television on 18 January 2012, Marietje Schaake – a Dutch Liberal member of the European Parliament, and EU rapporteur for Internet freedom in the world (it really is her title!) spoke forcefully about the need for a common EU position as a way to ensure and assert European economic influence, while as Goldsmith & Wu make clear, in many respects current global approaches to on-line data protection and privacy issues are being determined by the EU’s legal frameworks. In both cases, these are essentially questions of economic and social policy, distinct from the free speech discourses that shape US- approaches.

The book is now several years old (originally published in 2006) but this is not a sign that its case has dated all that much. While I was reading this, many sites closed down for a day over the threats seen in the likelihood that the US Senate might pass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect I(ntellectual) P(roperty) Act (PIPA), while many other site carried links to anti-censorship or other lobbying sites. Clearly, the tensions between ‘free speech’ and Internet governance are a very long way from being worked through, and as developments of increasingly national Internets in China and Iran show – SOPA, PIPA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a range of other state-driven approaches will continue to control and shape the increasingly pervasive bit of technology that is allowing you to read this.

Whether we agree with Goldsmith and Wu, that this state control is unavoidable because it is based in on-the-ground coercive powers (personal and corporate) or not, this is a superb outline of the issues and an excellent outline of the development of what we used to so unproblematically call cyberspace. (Check out my goodreads chum Sarah’s review at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/226... – thanks for putting me onto this.)

Highly recommended! (less)

· see review

Mar 11, 2008

Jenna rated it

I just find any topic regarding the Internet fascinating, and this recounts its history and laws surrounding it...FUN!!

like 1 like

· see review

Feb 09, 2011

AC Griffith rated it

This is an interesting book with solid research, and a good precursor to Wu's 2010 book. Started reading this just before the Egyptian government turned off the country's Internet/cell phones due the country's civil unrest. It was interesting to learn from this book, published back in 2006 and drawing on data from years previous, that the authors foresaw how easy it would be to disable an entire nation's high tech communications grid. Ham radio, anyone?

· see review

Feb 18, 2011

Carol added it

This was not only interesting, informative and educational but eye opening. I think I was one of the naive millions who thought the Internet would erase borders and unite the world. HA! Think again. There is so much to talk about and discuss with regards to this book. A good read.

· see review

May 26, 2010

Tim Wu rated it

· (Review from the author)

Okay I'm one of the authors of this book, so i guess i thought i should add it to my bookshelf, though i've long since lost or given away all physical copies of my book.

I love the Postel chapter, myself, and I learned alot about writing doing this book.

· see review

Jan 01, 2010

G rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: high-caliber

A smart history of the general issues involving the law and governance that Internet activists and theoreticians have been grappling with for the last couple of decades. It's a good balance of argumentation and history.

· see review

Jun 04, 2010

Jeremy Karmel added it

Really interesting book. Talks about how the internet does not guarantee free speech.

· see review

Jun 25, 2010

Steven Roosa rated it

Good summary of recent events regarding authority to control the internet.

· see review

Jun 01, 2011

Kate O'Hanlon rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, technology, government

An informative read, though somewhat depressing if you, like me, would like to imagine that the internet can make us more free in a meaningful way.

If you're interested in the intersection between government and the net you'll likely have heard about, if not followed, a lot of the incidents recounted in this book. I found myself most interested in the incidents I was too young and feckless to have heard of, like Postel's attempt to seize root authority from the DOD, than the more cont...more

· see review

Jan 25, 2011

Helge Johannessen rated it

Many interesting cases, but not anything revolutionary.

· see review

Feb 29, 2008

Annette rated it

Recommends it for: Communications law geeks

The building of the series of tubes in a nutshell. I agree with other commenters that it is dense at times. At other times, repetitive. However, still full of useful info. The discussion on international laws on a seeming "borderless" web is quite useful in understanding the challenges of one country enforcing it's standards on other countries. Also, the part about the Great Firewall of China is worth a read.

· see review

Nov 26, 2011

Brian rated it

Recommended to Brian by: Junto Book Club

A Junto selection, notable mainly for the cogent arguments its authors make on how governments, whether intentionally or not and whether with acceptance or not, help shape the way the Internet grows and maintains legal viability, such as the extended case study of eBay's willingness to let government cybercrime units from the US surveil its operations.

· see review

Sep 06, 2007

Kevin rated it

Shelves: internetwork

It's not normally bad that a book has a point of view, but when it ignores all evidence that disputes its perspective, something's wrong. The first half of the book is pretty engaging and does a good job of telling the story of how the internet developed, but the second half is both dense and sometimes hard to read.

· see review

Jan 13, 2009

Kelli Tarala rated it

The Internet was not always in control of the USA government. On January 29, 1998, John Postel one of the 8 DNS keepers, asked the others to give him root control of all the domains. As you can imagine, that did not go over very well. "It was just a test"

· see review

Feb 07, 2012

Valentin Moroianu is currently reading it

Feb 05, 2012

Michael added it

Feb 03, 2012

Melis marked it as to-read

Feb 09, 2012

Deniz marked it as to-read

Jan 29, 2012

Susan Christie marked it as to-read

Jan 29, 2012

Amanda Perrine marked it as to-read

Jan 21, 2012

Nicole marked it as to-read

Jan 21, 2012

Kane Faucher marked it as to-read

Jan 20, 2012

Justin Li marked it as to-read

Shelves: technology

Jan 19, 2012

Richard marked it as to-read

Jan 18, 2012

Anna rated it

Jan 17, 2012

Alvaro marked it as to-read

Jan 15, 2012

Xondria Lloyd marked it as to-read

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Review	1	3	Nov 11, 2010 08:25am

combine
Other Editions (4)

Genres

Science > Technology

9 users

Non Fiction

6 users

Computers > Internet

5 users

Politics > Government

2 users

Culture > Society

2 users

Law

2 users

Academic

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Jack L. Goldsmith

The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration

Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency After 9/11

International Dispute Resolution: The Regulation of Forum Selection

Conflict of Laws: Cases & Materials, Fifth Edition [With Teacher's Manual]

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Who Controls the ...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Groups That Shelved Who Controls the ...

Digital Civilization

52 members

last activity Dec 21, 2011 12:57pm

shelf: to-read

title link	preview: Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World
avg rating	preview: Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World Goodreads rating: 3.59 (93 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/552130.Who_Controls_the_Internet_?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175731350m/552130.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/552130.Who_Controls_the_Internet_?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World by Jack L. Goldsmith[/url]

Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combine Other Editions (4)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Jack L. Goldsmith

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Who Controls the ...

Groups That Shelved Who Controls the ...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (4)