The Master Switch

At the heart of this fascinating book is one of the central questions of our age - rendered more urgent by recent events in the Arab world: is the internet a revolutionary innovation that will overthrow the established order... or will it turn out to have been an unruly technology, that will never escape the controlling embrace of corporations and governments? (Guardian)

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.