NetWorld! (translated): What People Are Really Doing on the Internet, and What It Means to You

by David H. Rothman

The Net is revolutionizing the way millions of people work, learn, fall in love, create art, do business, share news, make friends, and entertain themselves. In NetWorld!, David H. Rothman explores this new electronic meeting place, as well as the cotroversy that threatens it—the epic struggle between Netfolk and those who would crush freedom and privacy online. Here Rothman gives a complete rundown of what's at stake, and tells the story of Washington's Orwellian treatment of Phil Zimmermann, the programmer who popularized a spy-resistant way to transmit e-mail.

NetWorld! isn't about bits and bytes, its about people and what happens when they come together online. Inside you'll

• The Anglican priest who uses encryption to safeguard confessions he receives in cyberspace
• Bob and JoAnn Lilienfeld, the husband and wife team who started an electronic toystore called White Rabbit Toys
• The handsome young Australian who got engaged to the Kansas City college student he met online
• Nova Scotia teens who are using the Internet to improve their reading and writing skills
• Rob Lord and Jeff Patterson, who are giving big record companies a run for their money with their Internet • Underground Music Archive, where the hottest new bands share their music with fans around the world
• Dave Harmon, who started Walkers in Darkness, an electronic self-help group for people suffering from depression

An engaging, up-to-the-minute portrait of a landmark innovation, NetWorld! is as relevant to Netheads who log on everyday as it is to people who hate computers.

About the Author
David H. Rothman has written more than half a dozen books about people and high technology, including The Silicon Jungle, The Complete Laptop Computer Guide, and The Electronic How to Speak Out and Organize on the Internet. The Washington Post has praised him for "sprightly, thorough reporting on a fast-changing industry," and the New York Times and Library Journal have described his style as "entertaining." ABC and NBC have both aired stories based on his investigative journalism.

Genres: Computers

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 1995

About the author

David H. Rothman, author of the just-published Drone Child and an earlier novel, The Solomon Scandals, is a former poverty beat reporter. The Washington City Paper praised Scandals for "the same dark zeal Hammett held for Frisco or Chandler had for Los Angeles." In addition, Rothman has written six nonfiction books on technology topics. Junior Boweya in Kinshasa, a translator, software-localization expert, and businessman, fact-checked Child and otherwise offered an invaluable Congolese perspective. So did the activist Jean Félix Mwema Ngandu, a former Mandela Fellow. Read more at DroneChild.com and SolomonScandals.com.