Product Description

A groundbreaking survey of the battles raging for the future of communications

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #660985 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
"This book is fundamental. It will define the debate about the future of the Internet, long after we haven''t stopped it. Absolutely required reading." Lawrence Lessig, Professor, Stanford Law School, and author of Free Culture and The Future of Ideas "This remarkably researched and highly entertaining book is a must-read for all who take the ubiquitous nature of the Internet in our everyday lives for granted. The future of the internet is NOT a positive one, unless we all work collaboratively to ensure its lasting success. Zittrain's analysis is first-class and should be widely heeded by leaders from all sectors of society." Dr. Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman and Founder of the World Economic Forum "The most compelling book ever written on why a transformative technology''s trajectory threatens to stifle that technology''s greatest promise for society. Zittrain offers convincing road maps for redeeming that promise." Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School "Jonathan Zittrain does what no one has before-he eloquently and subtly pinpoints the magic that makes Wikipedia, and the Internet as a whole, work. The best way to save the Internet is to turn off your laptop until you'â ve read this book." Jimbo Wales, Founder, Wikipedia "A superb and alarming discussion, from one of the most astute and forward-looking analysts of the Internet. Zittrain explains how the glorious promise of the Internet might not be realized-and points the way toward reducing the current risks. Absolutely essential reading." Cass Sunstein, Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence, The University of Chicago Law School, and co-author of "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness"

BBC Focus
`How refreshing to read Jonathan Zittrain's thorough book ... a good read. It's hugely in-depth, but it's also an interesting story'

Financial Times
`Zittrain's book is a useful starting point to understanding the choices that lie ahead'

Customer Reviews

pompous blather - what a shame
This is the kind of book that gives academic writing a bad name. It is written in terrible nominal style, with as many latin words as possible, that is hard to read and dead boring. The cover blurb declaring this a "highly entertaining book" must be ironic. A random example (page 115): "If we move to a regime in which individuals, and not just distributors, are susceptible to impoundment remedies for digital contraband, these remedies might be applied only after the status of the contraband has been officially determined." An author who cannot express himself simpler probably has not that much to say.

The thesis of the book is simple: The internet has been great so far because it allows free tinkering, which the author calls a "generative" technology. However, its abuse leads to a trend towards sterile "tethered appliances" (which allow no tinkering), like the iphone which can only be modified by the manufacturer. Let's think hard how to keep the internet free! This is a bit too short, but the whole book can probably be condensed to ten pages of plain English. It would be nice to have a concise and intelligent debate of the topic. This book does not provide one.

An excellent read
Zittrain's book is a rare treat. Incisive without being trite and detailed without being dull. It is one of the rare books on the internet that is readable by both the amateur and the expert. It opens our eyes to the danger of neglecting the power of a generative internet. No-one can read this book without thinking differently about the internet afterwards. It will shape our future.
Disclaimer: The author of this review is a (soon to be former) colleague of Zittrain's at the University of Oxford but one whose work lies far from this area and whose eyes were opened widely by this book.

A disapppointment
Jonathan Zittrain is an American lawyer and academic currently based at the Oxford Internet Institute. I have heard him speak several times and he is a lively and witty presenter, but sadly his book is a dull read due to its legalistic style. The 246 pages of main text are dotted with no less than 835 footnotes gathered into 80 pages at the back. This is a man who, when he mentions a web page, records not just the date but the time that he last visited it.

His main theme - which he repeats endlessly - can be simply stated. In his words: "The future is not one of generative PCs attached to a generative network. It is instead one of sterile appliances tethered to a network of control".

The personal computer and the Internet are open and flexible systems (he uses the word "generative" all the time) which have enabled an incredible flowering of innovative products and services from a multitude of sources. However, the very openness of the PC and the Web have exposed then to a whole variety of threats such as hacking, viruses, spam, and a host of malware.

In the face of such threats, the temptation will be to 'lock down' such systems that that they can be controlled more tightly. So devices increasingly will be "tethered" to limit what they can do (for instance, smart phones like the iPhone or PVRs like Sky+) and the Net will attract the attention of governments and regulators who will endeavour to limit what we can access and do on-line.

To stop this undesired future, we need to find ways of tapping into the co-operativeness and ingenuity of users themselves to find flexible solutions that may not be perfect but work - such as the controls that make Wikipedia operate so well.

Zittrain is incredibly knowledgeable and immensely insightful (his chapter on privacy is especially challenging), but his basic message is repeated and reworked so often, his solutions are so varied and diffuse, and the language is so opaque and legalistic than ultimately the book is a disappointment to the general reader (as opposed perhaps to a law student or IT geek). In any event, it is not clear that what Zittrain calls generativity is overall on the decline or that we have to chose between generative and tethered devices as opposed to selecting a mixture of items for different purposes and roles.