In the book, you write that the internet is broken because the internet is a business. You identify by the root of those problems in the ongoing process of privatization. So long as the internet is owned and run for profit, ordinary people can't have the power to make decisions about how it should be used. As we move up the stack and we talk about the so called platforms, they are entangled with such a wide array of social, financial, legal forces that the consequences are quite various. But even if those deleterious effects were somehow eliminated or mitigated, this fundamental inequality would remain.
Paris Marx is joined by Ben Tarnoff to discuss why the problems with the modern internet, including its excessive concentration in the hands of a few companies and the way its dominant firms shape our interactions to generate profit, find their root in the decision to privatize the network. To fix them, that needs to be changed.
Ben Tarnoff is the author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future and the co-founder of Logic Magazine. Follow Ben on Twitter at @bentarnoff.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.
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