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World War 3.0: The Hidden Internet War
Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2022
About the author
Sean Ennis
15 books12 followersSean Ennis is the author of CHASE US: Stories (Little A) and his fiction has appeared in Tin House, Crazyhorse, Diagram, Wigleaf and The Adroit Journal. More of his work can be found at seanennis.net
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 22, 2023
What a surprising book on the many ways in which the empire building effort made by US internet companies is comparable to the traditional empire building normally achieved through wars, and what it all means for us on a day-to-day basis.
The book is surprising in many ways:
· I learned much more than I expected about the internet business, about some useful details on its technical and market characteristics (the stakeholders, the market shares, pricing and contractual approaches, negotiation margins, the exceptional ability to raise funds, …).
· I learned a lot about the role and limitations of national and supranational governments in managing the various stakeholders as well as about the differences in bargaining power and skills of different governments in their ability to manage opportunities and risks (current and future) when dealing with supranational concentrated markets.
· I also enjoyed learning how much, in many ways, the internet business expansion goals and strategies mimic those adopted during wars between countries and most importantly maybe, how much from the viewpoint of governments, this war mentality is a bit of “business-as-usual” for governments expected to engage in “winner takes all” approaches to the benefit of those they want to protect (their citizens, i.e. workers, investors and producers), at a cost to be paid by those outside of their protection mandate (OK, I am naïve but I could not really imagine some of the negotiations tricks were this outrageous).
· And finally, I learned about the detailed ways in which the regulators and competition agencies only have limited margin to do the right thing and about the many ways in which politics contributes to their ineffectiveness in the name of the national local and specific interests while ignoring the global public interests.
Thanks to the many historical insights on wars intended to show that business CEOs have a lot in common with military strategists when they take on their “enemy” and thanks to the tons of clearly explained technical dimensions that help understand the internet business, Sean Ennis manages to make the learning entertaining. You come out of this book a lot more knowledgeable than you would expect and a lot more aware of the margin you have to make choices to make sure that the internet business remains in the interest of all rather than a threat to too many.
My reading of Sean Ennis’s punchline is that internet has been good news in general but that its owners (and the government of their country of origin…) are not saints. Since governments have demonstrated their limitations in managing the internet empires, Ennis argues that it is up to users to fight back for our rights to privacy, to fair prices, to fair choices, and to reduce the many other risks that the current market structure is forcing us to internalize without alternatives.
Lots of food for thought with still enough margin not to agree with all of the diagnostics and suggestions made and to start thinking about other options to address the many issues raised. Easy to recommend.
The book is surprising in many ways:
· I learned much more than I expected about the internet business, about some useful details on its technical and market characteristics (the stakeholders, the market shares, pricing and contractual approaches, negotiation margins, the exceptional ability to raise funds, …).
· I learned a lot about the role and limitations of national and supranational governments in managing the various stakeholders as well as about the differences in bargaining power and skills of different governments in their ability to manage opportunities and risks (current and future) when dealing with supranational concentrated markets.
· I also enjoyed learning how much, in many ways, the internet business expansion goals and strategies mimic those adopted during wars between countries and most importantly maybe, how much from the viewpoint of governments, this war mentality is a bit of “business-as-usual” for governments expected to engage in “winner takes all” approaches to the benefit of those they want to protect (their citizens, i.e. workers, investors and producers), at a cost to be paid by those outside of their protection mandate (OK, I am naïve but I could not really imagine some of the negotiations tricks were this outrageous).
· And finally, I learned about the detailed ways in which the regulators and competition agencies only have limited margin to do the right thing and about the many ways in which politics contributes to their ineffectiveness in the name of the national local and specific interests while ignoring the global public interests.
Thanks to the many historical insights on wars intended to show that business CEOs have a lot in common with military strategists when they take on their “enemy” and thanks to the tons of clearly explained technical dimensions that help understand the internet business, Sean Ennis manages to make the learning entertaining. You come out of this book a lot more knowledgeable than you would expect and a lot more aware of the margin you have to make choices to make sure that the internet business remains in the interest of all rather than a threat to too many.
My reading of Sean Ennis’s punchline is that internet has been good news in general but that its owners (and the government of their country of origin…) are not saints. Since governments have demonstrated their limitations in managing the internet empires, Ennis argues that it is up to users to fight back for our rights to privacy, to fair prices, to fair choices, and to reduce the many other risks that the current market structure is forcing us to internalize without alternatives.
Lots of food for thought with still enough margin not to agree with all of the diagnostics and suggestions made and to start thinking about other options to address the many issues raised. Easy to recommend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review