Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

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3.62 of 5 stars 3.62  ·  rating details  ·  154 ratings  ·  22 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...more
Hardcover, 226 pages
Published April 1st 2006 by Oxford University Press (first published February 24th 2006)
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Sarah Cypher
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 about now for two reas...more
Elizabeth
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...more
Joshua
An excellent short history of the Internet that tries to put to rest the 90's libertarian prophecy of the Internet as the great globalizer and destroyer of nation states. The authors put clear arguments forward that show how the physical coercion of territorial governments can control the Internet, with the great firewall of China as an extreme example. Governments can coerce ISPs, which in turn can filter and shape the Internet. They can coerce financial service providers, which can make or bre...more
Nathan Johnson
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...more
Cale
An interesting and informative book that isn't afraid to examine some of the idealistic tropes of the Internet and puncture them with reality. It takes a look at what we believed the Internet would do, and then compares it to what actually happened, the whole concept of the Internet displacing nations being the central illusion destroyed. Not only does it show what happened, it explores the why through a lot of logic and following of trends not often applied.
I do hope they update this some time...more
Malcolm
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) –...more
Jenna
I just find any topic regarding the Internet fascinating, and this recounts its history and laws surrounding it...FUN!!
Peter
Cogently and persuasively argues that the Internet has defied those who imagined it would herald an era of a borderless world. On the contrary, the state's coercive powers have contributed to the emergence of a bordered Internet, where what you publish on a website hosted in New Jersey can lead to a libel lawsuit in Australia.

Although the book was written six years ago, its prediction about the rise of competing approaches to the Internet appears to have been prescient. Instead of one truly glo...more
David Weinstein
I preferred The Master Switch. This book sometimes spent too much time explaining simple concepts. The most egregious example is pages 69-71 using five graphics and a real world metaphor to explain that governments can restrict/control web browsing by controlling the internet intermediaries within their own borders.

The book's persuasive and well-cited. It serves a good counter to the prevalent ideology that the internet transcends law.
Julia
Jul 12, 2012 Julia added it
Shelves: communicaiton
The Thesis that Goldsmith and Wu argue is that on the Internet, both locally and globally, "physical coercion by government – the hallmark of the traditional legal system – remains far more important than anyone expected." Building, in part, on Lawrence Lessig's work in his book "Code 2.0," "Who Controls the Internet" contributes to the body of work that seeks to combat earlier rhetoric of technological determinism.

Carol
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.
Tim Wu
May 26, 2010 Tim Wu rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  (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.
G
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.
Jeremy Karmel
Really interesting book. Talks about how the internet does not guarantee free speech.
Steven Roosa
Good summary of recent events regarding authority to control the internet.
Kate O'Hanlon
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 contemporary iss...more
Helge Johannessen
Many interesting cases, but not anything revolutionary.
John
Pretty good overview.
Annette
Feb 29, 2008 Annette rated it 3 of 5 stars 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.
Brian
Nov 26, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars
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.
Kevin
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.
Kelli Tarala
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"
Bryan Giger
Jun 18, 2013 Bryan Giger marked it as to-read
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Jun 15, 2013 Belicoff Neewilly marked it as to-read
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Review 1 6 Nov 11, 2010 08:25am  
Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World (Paperback)
Who Controls the Internet? (ebook)
Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World (ebook)
Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World (Kindle Edition)
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