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Alexander R. Galloway

Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization (Leonardo)

by Alexander R. Galloway (Author)

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How Control Exists after Decentralization

Is the Internet a vast arena of unrestricted communication and freely exchanged information or a regulated, highly structured virtual bureaucracy? In Protocol, Alexander Galloway argues that the founding principle of the Net is control, not freedom, and that the controlling power lies in the technical protocols that make network connections (and disconnections) possible. He does this by treating the computer as a textual medium that is based on a technological language, code. Code, he argues, can be subject to the same kind of cultural and literary analysis as any natural language; computer languages have their own syntax, grammar, communities, and cultures. Instead of relying on established theoretical approaches, Galloway finds a new way to write about digital media, drawing on his backgrounds in computer programming and critical theory. "Discipline-hopping is a necessity when it comes to complicated socio-technical topics like protocol," he writes in the preface.

Galloway begins by examining the types of protocols that exist, including TCP/IP, DNS, and HTML. He then looks at examples of resistance and subversion—hackers, viruses, cyberfeminism, Internet art—which he views as emblematic of the larger transformations now taking place within digital culture. Written for a nontechnical audience, Protocol serves as a necessary counterpoint to the wildly utopian visions of the Net that were so widespread in earlier days.

ISBN-10

0262572338
ISBN-13

978-0262572330
Publisher

MIT Press
Publication date

January 1, 2004
Language

English
Dimensions

8.74 x 6.96 x 0.66 inches
Print length

260 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

An engaging methodological hybrid of the Frankfurt School and UNIX for Dummies.... Galloway brings the uncool question of morality back into critical thinking.—Ed Halter, The Village Voice—

Galloway is one of the very few people who are equally well versed in poststructuralist cultural theory and computer programming.

—Steven Shaviro, The Pinocchio Theory Weblog—

Protocol...is a book on computer science written by someone who's not a computer scientist, and that's a good thing.

—Gary Singh, Metro—

Review

Expressing some startling new lines of thought with refreshingly straightforward clarity, Galloway reminds all of us why thinking about networks and their protocols is so relevant to our time. From FTP to fluxus or Deleuze to DNS, these are the connections that need to be made between the models competing to be our reality.

―Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus, Coercion, and Nothing Sacred

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ MIT Press (January 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262572338
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262572330
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.74 x 6.96 x 0.66 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #626 in History of Engineering & Technology
- #1,313 in History of Technology
- #2,332 in Internet & Telecommunications

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Alexander R. Galloway

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Alexander R. Galloway is professor in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. He is the author of several books including Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Minnesota, 2006), Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization, and The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (Minnesota, 2007).

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Review Guy

DNS Error or Server Not Found

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 24, 2008

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Alexander Galloway seems to have something profound to say about networks but not the confidence to say it clearly. Galloway sets out to prove that "protocol" is to distributed postmodern networks (i.e. the Internet) what Foucault's "panopticon" was to modernist social hierarchies. Since Foucault is, for me, the best example of why postmodern 'theory' is still worth taking seriously, I got pretty excited about this book.

Galloway begins ambitiously, clearly stating his thesis (the book's subtitle), identifying his intellectual opponents (naive techno-libertarians), and situating his work within the literature (he invokes figures as diverse as Vannevar Bush and Gilles Deleuze). By page 65, the book seems really to be going somewhere, as Galloway walks us through the history of protocol, using TCP/IP and DNS as exemplars. The writing is technically crisp and hard-headed.

But just as I started to get really interested, Galloway seemed to back off his argument, retreating into vague pronouns and undefined terms. Derrida appeared briefly. There was some general derision of 'late capitalism.' I finally got lost on his discussion of Sergei Eisenstein's attempt to adapt Das Kapital for the movie screen ("What does this have to do with networks?" I thought.)

In the end, I never figured out what Galloway meant by "protocological control." It was not clear which (if any) agent does the controlling, what the limits of protocological control are, or how we could exercise control if we wanted to. I was left with the distinct impression that protocological control amounts to the simple requirement that nodes on a network speak a common language. It's hard to see this as particularly insidious, or even politically relevant. There may be more going on here, but I can't find it.

30 people found this helpful

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VJ

Great Book, Terrible Kindle version

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 15, 2015

Great book, terrible kindle version. Tried to use in class with mixed hard copy/ebooks. Kindle version has no page numbers, out of place graphics, out of order text. Ended up having to buy hard copy anyway. Do not buy kindle version for schoolwork.

2 people found this helpful

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Jon Ippolito

A must-have if you're interested in the art, tech, or culture of networks

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2005

Galloway is a triple threat: he's fluent in the esoteric dialects of poststructuralist theory, Internet geekspeak, and network aesthetics. There are plenty of books that try to tackle the art and politics of the Internet age from one of these angles, and a handful that try two--but if you're looking for a three-dimensional treatment of the subject, this is the book for you.

Protocol's subtitle, How Control Exists after Decentralization, gives away Galloway's intention in writing this book, which is to steer a path between the "media are chains" intonations of broadcast media critics and the "networks make us free" hype of Internet evangelists. The fact that he's trying to erect a new theory in this uncharted territory makes this book a valuable contribution to the field.

Sometimes I think he loses his path along the way, as when he veers afield from his focus on networks to apply his ideas to an abstract "biopolitics" or to propose an aesthetic interpretation of Marx. None of these efforts is misguided or irrelevant, and academics with heads in the clouds will probably love these parts. Personally, however, I find Protocol most useful not when it connects one theory to another, but when it connects a theory to a specific technical specification. When Galloway pulls A Thousand Plateaus of the shelf to reveal the politics underlying the Internet's fundamental TCP/IP protocols, he's not just showing off his booklearning--he's upgrading Deleuze and Guattari's theory for use in the field, so we can apply their radical philosophy to the email and chat applications we design and deploy.

If you're a teacher trying to explain the relevance of dead European philosophers to students who'd rather be learning the latest PhotoShop filter or IM client, Protocol is a great translator between these realms. In my classes, I make them read an excerpt on a specific topic--network diagrams, for instance--but I also ask them to analyze the handy tables and photographs Galloway uses to condense and illustrate his points.

(Disclaimer: I know the author from our mutual work in the field of Internet art. That said, I know a lot of the authors of recent books on new media--it's the nature of the field.)

21 people found this helpful

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John Matlock

Computer Science from a Liberal Arts View.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 24, 2004

Some of the most interesting work being done today is a result of the cross fertilization of intellectual fields. While this is somewhat of a computer scienct book about the protocols of the internet, the author is a professor of Media Ecology. When he talks of the Internet and its protocols it's almost as if he is using different words.
It has long been a contention of mine that the Internet, both the world wide web and e-mail needs to be view as a transition in media not unlike that brought about by Gutenberg. Here the Internet and its interactions with both people and machines is analyzed like other media. What is the impact on society of a computer virus? How does this differ from the impact of the AIDS virus? And is the computer virus the problem or the weakness of the underlying programs - after all, most viruses use weaknesses in Microsoft Outlook to spread themselves.
We are at a time when the internet is changing our lives. It's good to see that people other than just technologists are looking at where we are going.

3 people found this helpful

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Julia

Seiten kleben noch zusammen

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on October 16, 2013

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Das Buch gefällt mir inhaltlich sehr gut und ist auch für Nicht-Muttersprachler auf Englisch gut verständlich. Manko: Viele Seiten im Buch sind noch zusammengeklebt, so dass man aufpassen muss, dass man die Seiten nicht einreißt, wenn man sie auseinander ziehen will.

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