Book description
The Internet Age: on the face of it, an era of unprecedented
freedom in both communication and culture. Yet in the past, each major
new medium, from telephone to satellite television, has crested on a
wave of similar idealistic optimism, before succumbing to the
inevitable undertow of industrial consolidation. Every once free and
open technology has, in time, become centralized and closed; as
corporate power has taken control of the 'master switch.' Today a
similar struggle looms over the Internet, and as it increasingly
supersedes all other media the stakes have never been higher. Part
industrial exposé, part examination of freedom of expression, The
Master Switch reveals a crucial drama - full of indelible characters -
as it has played out over decades in the shadows of global communication.
