Rebecca MacKinnon is Co-founder of Global Voices Online and a Fellow at the New America Foundation. MacKinnon is frequently interviewed by major media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, FT, BBC and other news outlets. She lives in Washington, DC.
New York Journal of Books
"Ms. MacKinnon provides expert reporting and analysis of Internet
censorship and acts against individuals by authoritarian regimes
around the world including China, Iran, and Egypt, among others.
Communication doesn't move in a straight line, and more often than
not, it occurs outside the lines of what we many people like. . . .
[If] you are a Google user and don't understand their recently
updated privacy policy, and are tired of trying to puzzle it out,
then Consent of the Networked is for you." Wall Street
Journal"[M]any thinkers on the information-wants-to-be-free side of
the debate present the same binary choice, seeing almost any state
control of the Internet, or any government attempt to protect
intellectual property, or even the attempts of private social
networks to get people to log in with their real names, as affronts
to democracy comparable with the worst excesses of repressive
regimes. Luckily, Ms. MacKinnon's analysis is more nuanced and
balanced than that, and Consent of the Networked is an excellent
survey of the Internet's major fault lines."
Observer (UK)
"In her grand sweep of 'the worldwide struggle for internet
freedom', Rebecca MacKinnon alights on the many dilemmas facing
policy makers and corporate chiefs, and the many threats that
cyberspace poses for individual liberty. . . . Thoroughly
researched by one of the experts in the field, the book straddles
the line between an academic and general audience. Mac Kinnon
entreats internet users to see themselves as active citizens--not
consumers or eyeballs. She harks back to Huxley's Brave New
World... [and] ends with a rallying cry." L. Gordon Crovitz, Wall
Street Journal"'Consent of the Networked' describes how important
it's been for the Internet to develop outside of multinational
organizations, with technology companies, engineering associations
and civil society groups having as much influence as governments. .
. . Applying the political-science notion of a social contract to
the Web for 'consent of the networked' is a novel approach. It
recognizes that the Web is global, with an inherent ideology in
favor of more transparency and greater access to information."
Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing "It is an absolutely indispensable
account of the way that technology both serves freedom and removes
it. MacKinnon is co-founder of the Global Voices project, and a
director of the Global Network Initiative, and is one of the
best-informed, clearest commentators on issues of networks and
freedom from a truly global perspective. MacKinnon does a fantastic
job of tying her theory and analysis to real-world
stories."Guardian (UK)"This timely, scholarly survey of global
offences against 'freedom' on the internet also points out that
Facebook, Google and the like supply 'corporate' rather than
'public' spaces, whose users are subject to the unsophisticated
moral diktats of their owners." Pop Matters"Fluent in Mandarin,
MacKinnon spent nearly a decade as a CNN correspondent in Beijing,
including several years as the bureau chief.... Her insight into
how Western perception of the state of the Internet in China
differs from the true situation on the ground is invaluable."
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist
"A growing number of people throughout the world are counting on
the Internet to move their countries in a more democratic
direction. Consent of the Networked describes what's happening,
successes and failures, what's next, and what needs to be done.
It's the real deal." Kirkus Reviews
"An incisive overview of the global struggle for Internet freedom.
. . . In her wide-ranging book, MacKinnon details the many ways in
which governments, corporations and others are using the
Internet--from empowering people to helping authoritarian dictators
survive."Booklist
"A vitally important analysis of Internet manipulation that should
be read by anyone relying on the web for work or pleasure."Mother
Jones
James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic
"For nearly a decade, Rebecca MacKinnon has been at the center of
evolving debates about how the Internet will affect democracy,
privacy, individual liberties, and the other values free societies
want to defend. Here she makes a persuasive and important case
that, as with other technological revolutions through history, the
effects of today's new communications systems, for human liberation
or for oppression, will depend not on the technologies themselves
but rather on the resolve of citizens to shape the way in which
they are used."Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab"Consent of the
Networked will become the seminal book firmly establishing the
responsibility of those who control the architecture and the
politics of the network to the citizens who inhabit our new digital
world. Consent of the Networked should be required reading for all
of those involved in building our networked future as well as those
who live in it." Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66
University Professor of Politics and International Affairs,
Princeton University
"Consent of the Networked is a must-read for anyone interested in
freedom of personal and political expression in the 21st century.
It's accessible, engaging, and periodically hair-raising. It should
have the same impact on public awareness of the vital issues
surrounding Internet freedom that 'An Inconvenient Truth' had with
regard to climate change." Mary Robinson, Former UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, and President of Ireland"The
Internet poses the most complex challenges and opportunities for
human rights to have emerged over the last decade. Rebecca
MacKinnon's book is a clear-eyed guide through that complexity."
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor,
Harvard University, and author of The Future of Power"Cyber power
and governance of the internet is one of the great unsolved
problems of the 21st century. Rebecca MacKinnon has written a
wonderfully lively and illuminating account of the issues we face
in this contentious area. It is well worth reading."
"[A] sharp, sobering rebuttal [to] heady rhetoric, questioning and
complicating our understandings of what it means to be free online.
MacKinnon's book presents a cogent picture of the many ways in
which our lives, both online and off, are increasingly affected by
regulators, politicians, and companies seeking to carve territories
into the still-amorphous web. . . . [T]he book's intention isn't to
offer up a set of neat solutions, but to spur all of us to pay more
attention to the threats lurking beneath the web's shiny baubles,
and to exhort us to take a more active role in claiming and
defending our digital power, rights, and freedoms. In that, Consent
of the Networked succeeds admirably; it should be required reading
for anyone who cares about the future of the web--that is, for all
of us." Micah L. Sifriy, techPresident.com
"Count me among those who are thoroughly convinced by MacKinnon's
reporting and arguments. . . . In many ways, MacKinnon's book is
the one Evgeny Morozov should have written, if he was more
interested in building a sensible movement for Internet freedom
rather than conducting scorched-earth warfare against people who
believe the Internet can help strengthen democratic culture. . . .
While Consent of the Networked offers netizens a workable roadmap
to a real vision of internet freedom, the people who should most
read this book aren't the already aware, but folks--especially
policy-makers--who see all the shiny devices and trendy social
media and foolishly assume that the Internet will ultimately
prevail. It might, but only if we understand what a lucky and
unusual accident the Internet really is, and that to keep it open
and free, we have to fight for it." Washington Times
"Insightful and moving... Ms. MacKinnon's stories of the effort
occurring worldwide as people harness the Internet, often with a
political, socioeconomic or religious motivation, are discerning,
harrowing and empowering. From Egypt's record of torturing and
jailing bloggers, China's system of corporate-level censorship and
South Korea's strict requirements for real identification for
online users, Ms. MacKinnon repeatedly strikes the appropriate
balance between a technological discussion of the Net and the
significance of human rights. . . . Packed with thorough and
impeccable research and persuasive, eye-opening anecdotes from
around the world, Consent of the Networked should spearhead a
robust debate and join the handful of other books that successfully
guide the reader through the land mines surrounding responsible use
of the Internet." Boston Globe"Internet policy maven Rebecca
MacKinnon warns in an important new book... that the liberating
power of digital technology is under threat from corporations and
governments alike. . . . [MacKinnon] argues that neither political
action nor competitive pressure spawned by the free market will
protect our rights, finally making a strong case for a third way--a
nongovernmental watchdog with sufficient clout to preserve freedom
on the Internet."
James Fallows, National Correspondent, "The Atlantic
""For nearly a decade, Rebecca MacKinnon has been at the center of
evolving debates about how the Internet will affect democracy,
privacy, individual liberties, and the other values free societies
want to defend. Here she makes a persuasive and important case
that, as with other technological revolutions through history, the
effects of today's new communications systems, for human liberation
or for oppression, will depend not on the technologies themselves
but rather on the resolve of citizens to shape the way in which
they are used."Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab""Consent of the
Networked" will become the seminal book firmly establishing the
responsibility of those who control the architecture and the
politics of the network to the citizens who inhabit our new digital
world. "Consent of the Networked" should be required reading for
all of those involved in building our networked future as well as
those who live in it." Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66
University Professor of Politics and International Affairs,
Princeton University""Consent of the Networked" is a must-read for
anyone interested in freedom of personal and political expression
in the 21st century. It's accessible, engaging, and periodically
hair-raising. It should have the same impact on public awareness of
the vital issues surrounding Internet freedom that 'An Inconvenient
Truth' had with regard to climate change." Mary Robinson, Former UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, and President of Ireland"The
Internet poses the most complex challenges and opportunities for
human rights to have emerged over the last decade. Rebecca
MacKinnon's book is a clear-eyed guide through that complexity."
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor,
Harvard University, and author of "The Future of Power""Cyber power
and governance of the internet is one of the great unsolved
problems of the 21st century. Rebecca MacKinnon has
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
