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Please Upgrade for Access: How your ISP might be undermining your rights
It's easy to take the mostly neutral world of free speech online for granted. ISPs are hoping we continue to and that we won't notice as they take control of the web.
When a flow of information is centralized, it can be curated by those who own it to manipulate opinions, elections, and education. Western Union, a communications giant of the past, used that fact to manipulate the U.S. presidential election of 1876 with its absolute control over the telegraph network. There was no concept of net neutrality to stop it. We've seen similar things since with the centralization of radio, cable, and the telephone. How are ISPs trying to take over? What are the repercussions if they do? Can we keep the Internet open, or are we doomed to watch history repeat itself as big corporations take over?
"Please Upgrade for Access" outlines the ongoing fight for net neutrality by examining some of the ways many Internet providers—maybe even yours—are working to centralize access to the Internet and control what their customers can see. Our ability to choose, to innovate, and to be informed is at stake.
When a flow of information is centralized, it can be curated by those who own it to manipulate opinions, elections, and education. Western Union, a communications giant of the past, used that fact to manipulate the U.S. presidential election of 1876 with its absolute control over the telegraph network. There was no concept of net neutrality to stop it. We've seen similar things since with the centralization of radio, cable, and the telephone. How are ISPs trying to take over? What are the repercussions if they do? Can we keep the Internet open, or are we doomed to watch history repeat itself as big corporations take over?
"Please Upgrade for Access" outlines the ongoing fight for net neutrality by examining some of the ways many Internet providers—maybe even yours—are working to centralize access to the Internet and control what their customers can see. Our ability to choose, to innovate, and to be informed is at stake.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 7, 2017
About the author
Nate Levesque
3 books2 followersNate Levesque is a software engineer, independent author, and digital rights advocate. He writes about technology and digital rights, including his blog, his other book, Please Upgrade for Access, and has written for Opensource.com. Nate holds a degree in software engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and builds networking products at his day job.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 21, 2018
It was a well constructed book that followed a logical and cohesive narrative about it's subject matter. It was dry, but considering the topic is more arid than any desert known to man, the author actually did a great job. Well researched and modestly engaging
Biggest issue is that it really was that it is still a hard sell to laymen, who I think was his target audience. Still a little dry and all that.
Biggest issue is that it really was that it is still a hard sell to laymen, who I think was his target audience. Still a little dry and all that.
Displaying 1 of 1 review