The “voluntary” restricting of the freedom of the Internet is documented in a new book, The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It, by Jonathan Zittrain. Zittrain discusses “tethered” consumer devices that either cannot be modified or controlled by the user (TiVo, xBox, iPod) or devices and applications that can be (and are) monitored (GPS, Google).
He argues that these “tethered” devices are quashing the innovation and democracy that the Internet promised.
In a review on Leonardo Online, John F. Barber highlights Zittrain’s assertion that hope resides in the millions of users using “generative” devices and applications (e.g., Wikipedia) to work creatively and collaboratively to restablish and maintain a truly democratic Internet.
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Zittrain, J. (2008). The future of the Internet and how to stop it. New Haven: Yale
review at: http://leonardo.info/reviews/jan2009/barber_future.html
Future of the Internet blog: http://futureoftheinternet.org/
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