Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy, Power, and the Information Superhighway

Steven Miller writes a sort of "choose your own adventure" book about information technology complete with alternative endings based on how well society deals with the issues and decisions encountered along the information superhighway. If you choose to use the National Information Infrastructure (NII) to benefit the market economy, turn to page19, if you choose to use the NII to promote a true democracy, turn to page 377, etc. Miller is, of course, not neutral in his opinion of what the focus of NII development ought to be. "With information technologies, we can either move forward by "repaving the cowpaths," and simply develop quicker, more intensive ways of continuing current social realities; or we can use it to branch off in radically different directions that allow us to realize some of our most cherished values." Steven Miller (397)These "cherished values" include a revitalized democracy and an active citizenship fueled by an informed, involved, connected, and strong community. Lest you mistake this upbeat optimism for the Pollyanna (the market will balance all in its infinite wisdom) approach touted by many cyber-enthusiasts, Miller acknowledges the need for some government regulation and makes a pretty good case for the notion that "deregulation" is not possible. The choice is either explicit regulation with citizen input, or complex, covert regulation based on grants, subsidies, and tax breaks brokered through corporate -government alliances that actually discourage citizen participation (pp. 74-79). Miller then illustrates the joys and pitfalls of government regulation of infrastructure through a brief history of past models, e.g. trains, telephones, highways, and cable. He describes a variety of government agencies, private industry, and non-profit organizations trying to shape the NII, and manages to provide enough detail to frame the debate without forcing you to reach for the No-Doze. We are offered interesting proposals for "universal service," "electronic democracy," and an "Internet community," and, at the same time, asked to examine less attractive subjects such as invasion of privacy, intellectual property issues, and the underbelly of the NII policy making process. Okay, so its not quite the cliff-hanger you might have expected from my opening line, but it is a well written, thought-provoking book that offers a straight forward account of NII issues. And Steven Miller pulls it off while keeping the jargon to a minimum (bless his heart).

Lot's of food for thought.Addresses the right issues

As we all know, there are more books out there about the Internet than we'll ever have time to read. This is an entertaining and educational narrative of why understanding the "information superhighway" and the policies guiding it is so imperative to our current and future implementation of its tools. I also enjoyed the historical context in which he placed current policymaking. An excellent book for those wanting to better understand communications policy.