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Rebecca MacKinnon
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Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom Hardcover – January 31, 2012

by Rebecca MacKinnon (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 36 ratings
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The Internet was going to liberate us, but in truth it has not. For every story about the web’s empowering role in events such as the Arab Spring, there are many more about the quiet corrosion of civil liberties by companies and governments using the same digital technologies we have come to depend upon. Sudden changes in Facebook’s features and privacy settings have exposed identities of protestors to police in Egypt and Iran. Apple removes politically controversial apps at the behest of governments as well as for its own commercial reasons. Dozens of Western companies sell surveillance technology to dictatorships around the world. Google struggles with censorship demands from governments in a range of countries—many of them democracies—as well as mounting public concern over the vast quantities of information it collects about its users. In Consent of the Networked, journalist and Internet policy specialist Rebecca MacKinnon argues that it is time to fight for our rights before they are sold, legislated, programmed, and engineered away. Every day, the corporate sovereigns of cyberspace make decisions that affect our physical freedom—but without our consent. Yet the traditional solution to unaccountable corporate behavior—government regulation—cannot stop the abuse of digital power on its own, and sometimes even contributes to it.

A clarion call to action, Consent of the Networked shows that it is time to stop arguing over whether the Internet empowers people, and address the urgent question of how technology should be governed to support the rights and liberties of users around the world.

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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    January 31, 2012
  5. Grade level
    11 and up
  6. Reading age
    13 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0465024424
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0465024421
  10. See all details
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4.4 out of 5 stars
36 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

tobrecht@bluewin.ch
5.0 out of 5 stars a must!
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2012
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Consent of the Networked is a must for all people who realize that the future of a free and democratic internet is not at all guaranteed and that we have to contribute in order to make sure that cyberspace is not ruled by some weird Big Brothers. Rebecca MacKinnon gives a very good account of the challenges in this new, fabulous, profitable and highly contested playing field where huge corporate empires compete with nation states and where freedom of information is threatened at every corner. After reading this book, we understand that from simple users we have to become citizens of the Internet who fight for their rights.
8 people found this helpful
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michael d. mosettig
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an outstanding piece of work on one of ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015
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This is an outstanding piece of work on one of the critical issues of current international politics. Thoroughly researched and well presented. Obviously, this is a fast-changing issue, but the basics are here for those who need and want a solid grounding. Very Well Done.
3 people found this helpful
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Adam Thierer
4.0 out of 5 stars an excellent overview of the ideas and forces shaping Internet policy debates globally
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2012
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MacKinnon's book is well-researched exploration of the forces driving Internet developments and policy across the globe today. She serves up an outstanding history of recent global protest movements and social revolutions and explores the role that Internet technologies and digital networks played in those efforts. In particular, her coverage of China and the Net is outstanding. She also surveys some of the recent policy fights here and abroad over issues such as online privacy, Net neutrality regulation, free speech matters, and the copyright wars. It is certainly worth reading and will go down as one of the most important Internet policy books of 2012.

Her book is an attempt to take the Net freedom movement to the next level; to formalize it and to put in place a set of governance principles that will help us hold the "sovereigns of cyberspace" more accountable. Many of her proposals are quite sensible. But my primary problem with MacKinnon's book lies in her use of the term "digital sovereigns" or "sovereigns of cyberspace" and the loose definition of "sovereignty" that pervades the narrative. She too often blurs and equates private power and political power, and she sometimes leads us to believe that the problem of the dealing with the mythical nation-states of "Facebookistan" and "Googledom" is somehow on par with the problem of dealing with actual sovereign power -- government power -- over digital networks, online speech, and the world's Netizenry.

But MacKinnon has many other ideas about Net governance in the book that are less controversial and entirely sensible. She wants to "expand the technical commons" by building and distributing more tools to help activists and make organizations more transparent and accountable. These would include circumvention and anonymization tools, software and programs that allow both greater data security and portability, and devices and network systems to expand the range of communication and participation, especially in more repressed countries. She would also like to see neitzens "devise more systematic and effective strategies for organizing, lobbying, and collective bargaining with the companies whose service we depend upon -- to minimize the chances that terms of service, design choices, technical decisions, or market entry strategies could put people at risk or result in infringement of their rights." This also makes sense as part of a broader push for improved corporate social responsibility.

Regarding law, she takes a mixed view. She says: "There is a need for regulation and legislation based on solid data and research (as opposed to whatever gets handed to legislative staffers by lobbyists) as well as consultation with a genuinely broad cross-section of people and groups affected by the problem the legislation seeks to solve, along with those likely to be affected by the proposed solutions." Of course, that's a fairly ambiguous standard that could open the door to excessive political meddling with the Net if we're not careful. Overall, though, she acknowledges how regulation so often lags far behind innovation. "A broader and more intractable problem with regulating technology companies is that legislation appears much too late in corporate innovation and business cycles," she rightly notes.

MacKinnon's book will be of great interest to Internet policy scholars and students, but it is also accessible to a broader audience interested in learning more about the debates and policies that will shape the future of the Internet and digital networks for many years to come.

My entire review of "Consent of the Networked" can be found on the Technology Liberation Front blog.
19 people found this helpful
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Kate Crawford
4.0 out of 5 stars What are we consenting to on the internet?
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2013
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This is a provocative book that is well argued. All of us using the internet in the modern world need to be aware of the political issues arround this new interactive technology that crosses many of the boundaries of the past. The extensive use of networks and the changing conceptions of open development, property, consent, and privacy will require new conversations and better public education for the informed consent of people. This book should be compuslory reading for all courses training people to work in telco networks and related industries.
6 people found this helpful
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Gohary
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2016
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This is a very important book for anyone who wants to understand more about the state of the Internet, Internet policies around the world and how/what governments, corporate, technologists and civil society work towards Internet policies.
2 people found this helpful
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Jamesks
5.0 out of 5 stars Consent of the Networked
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2012
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Excellent book that was well written and easy to read, while covering a large amount of material in an easily digestable format. A good primer for an introduction to the current issue of the internet world.
3 people found this helpful
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John T. OFarrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Great if You Get Past the Cover
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2014
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A must read for everyone. Poor cover...this is not some socialist manifesto.
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John Warner
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read about internet privacy intrusion
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2013
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Overall, a good read. MacKinnon's work was well researched and well discussed in the issues plaging privacy and human rights in the use of the internet.
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