[liberationtech] The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom

2015-03-11 Thread Shawn Mathew Powers
We are pleased to announce the release of The Real Cyber War: The Political 
Economy of Internet Freedom (University of Illinois Press, 2015, 
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/83cdd9wm9780252039126.html) by 
Shawn Powers (https://gsu.academia.edu/smp) and Michael Jablonski 
(http://www.realcyberwar.com/authors/). The book is on sale now 
(http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Cyber-War-Communication/dp/025208070X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8qid=1426072769sr=1-1)
 for $25 (paperback). The Kindle edition 
(http://www.amazon.com/Real-Cyber-War-Political-Communication-ebook/dp/B00UGIKUVA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8sr=1-1qid=1426072769)
 is just $11.75.

About the book: Discussions surrounding the role of the internet in society are 
dominated by terms such as internet freedom, surveillance, cybersecurity, and, 
most prolifically, cyber war. But behind the rhetoric of cyber war is an 
ongoing state-centered battle for control of information resources. Powers and 
Jablonski conceptualize this real cyber war as the utilization of digital 
networks for geopolitical purposes, including covert attacks against another 
state’s electronic systems, but also, and more importantly, the variety of ways 
the internet is used to further a state’s economic and military agendas.

Moving beyond debates on the democratic value of new and emerging information 
technologies, The Real Cyber War focuses on political, economic, and 
geopolitical factors driving internet freedom policies, in particular the U.S. 
State Department's emerging doctrine in support of a universal freedom to 
connect. They argue that efforts to create a universal internet built upon 
Western legal, political, and social preferences is driven by economic and 
geopolitical motivations rather than the humanitarian and democratic ideals 
that typically accompany related policy discourse. In fact, the 
freedom-to-connect movement is intertwined with broader efforts to structure 
global society in ways that favor American and Western cultures, economies, and 
governments.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Geopolitics  the Internet

1. Information Freedom  US Foreign Policy: A History

2. The Information Industrial Complex

3. Google, Information  Power

4. The Economics of Internet Connectivity

5. The Myth of Multistakeholder Governance

6. Towards Information Sovereignty

7. Internet Freedom in a Surveillance Society

Conclusion: Taming Geopolitics

Reviews:

A knowing, wide-ranging, perceptive, important, and original book. Powers and 
Jablonski connect disparate and significant dots; weave history, technology, 
and law together; and explain interrelated complex concepts imaginatively. They 
tell a compelling story key for any student of transnational information 
flows.--Monroe Price, author of Media and Sovereignty: The Global Information 
Revolution and its Challenge to State Power

As governments, companies, civil society, and other stakeholders struggle 
towards a new global information and communication order in the post-Snowden 
world, this equally provocative and important book cuts through the Western 
rhetoric of 'Internet freedom' and draws a sobering picture of how 
policy-making in this space is ultimately a fight for control over information, 
which is largely driven by economic and geopolitical interests rather than 
democratic ideals and human rights.--Urs Gasser, Executive Director, Berkman 
Center for Internet  Society, Harvard University

Where to learn more?

University of Illinois Press 
(http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/83cdd9wm9780252039126.html)

Amazon 
(http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Cyber-War-Communication/dp/025208070X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8qid=1426072769sr=1-1)

Realcyberwar.comhttp://Realcyberwar.com

Feedback and questions are welcome. Also, if you are working on a similar or 
related project, please get in touch! All the best,




—

Shawn Powers, PhD
Assistant Professor, Communication
Associate Director, CIME
Georgia State University
s...@gsu.edumailto:s...@gsu.edu





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Re: [liberationtech] The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom

2015-03-11 Thread Yasha Levine
Have to say that I share David's enthusiasm. The book looks great and is 
extremely timely. 

 On Mar 11, 2015, at 12:08 PM, David Golumbia dgolum...@gmail.com wrote:
 
 wow. thanks for sharing this. from where I sit, that looks like hitting a 
 nail on the head that has needed such a direct hit for quite a while. as the 
 publisher's site tags it: How the freedom-to-connect movement aids Western 
 hegemony. Can't wait to read it.
 
 DG
 
 On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 2:55 PM, Shawn Mathew Powers s...@gsu.edu wrote:
 We are pleased to announce the release of The Real Cyber War: The Political 
 Economy of Internet Freedom (University of Illinois Press, 2015, 
 http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/83cdd9wm9780252039126.html) by 
 Shawn Powers (https://gsu.academia.edu/smp) and Michael Jablonski 
 (http://www.realcyberwar.com/authors/). The book is on sale now 
 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Cyber-War-Communication/dp/025208070X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8qid=1426072769sr=1-1)
  for $25 (paperback). The Kindle edition 
 (http://www.amazon.com/Real-Cyber-War-Political-Communication-ebook/dp/B00UGIKUVA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8sr=1-1qid=1426072769)
  is just $11.75. 
 
 About the book: Discussions surrounding the role of the internet in society 
 are dominated by terms such as internet freedom, surveillance, 
 cybersecurity, and, most prolifically, cyber war. But behind the rhetoric of 
 cyber war is an ongoing state-centered battle for control of information 
 resources. Powers and Jablonski conceptualize this real cyber war as the 
 utilization of digital networks for geopolitical purposes, including covert 
 attacks against another state’s electronic systems, but also, and more 
 importantly, the variety of ways the internet is used to further a state’s 
 economic and military agendas.
 
 Moving beyond debates on the democratic value of new and emerging 
 information technologies, The Real Cyber War focuses on political, economic, 
 and geopolitical factors driving internet freedom policies, in particular 
 the U.S. State Department's emerging doctrine in support of a universal 
 freedom to connect. They argue that efforts to create a universal internet 
 built upon Western legal, political, and social preferences is driven by 
 economic and geopolitical motivations rather than the humanitarian and 
 democratic ideals that typically accompany related policy discourse. In 
 fact, the freedom-to-connect movement is intertwined with broader efforts to 
 structure global society in ways that favor American and Western cultures, 
 economies, and governments.
 
 Table of Contents:
 
 Introduction: Geopolitics  the Internet
 
 1. Information Freedom  US Foreign Policy: A History
 
 2. The Information Industrial Complex
 
 3. Google, Information  Power
 
 4. The Economics of Internet Connectivity
 
 5. The Myth of Multistakeholder Governance
 
 6. Towards Information Sovereignty
 
 7. Internet Freedom in a Surveillance Society
 
 Conclusion: Taming Geopolitics
 
 Reviews: 
 
 A knowing, wide-ranging, perceptive, important, and original book. Powers 
 and Jablonski connect disparate and significant dots; weave history, 
 technology, and law together; and explain interrelated complex concepts 
 imaginatively. They tell a compelling story key for any student of 
 transnational information flows.--Monroe Price, author of Media and 
 Sovereignty: The Global Information Revolution and its Challenge to State 
 Power 
 
 As governments, companies, civil society, and other stakeholders struggle 
 towards a new global information and communication order in the post-Snowden 
 world, this equally provocative and important book cuts through the Western 
 rhetoric of 'Internet freedom' and draws a sobering picture of how 
 policy-making in this space is ultimately a fight for control over 
 information, which is largely driven by economic and geopolitical interests 
 rather than democratic ideals and human rights.--Urs Gasser, Executive 
 Director, Berkman Center for Internet  Society, Harvard University 
 
 Where to learn more?
 
 University of Illinois Press 
 (http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/83cdd9wm9780252039126.html) 
 
 Amazon 
 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Cyber-War-Communication/dp/025208070X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8qid=1426072769sr=1-1)
  
 
 Realcyberwar.com
 
 Feedback and questions are welcome. Also, if you are working on a similar or 
 related project, please get in touch! All the best, 
 
 
 
 
 —
 
 Shawn Powers, PhD
 Assistant Professor, Communication
 Associate Director, CIME
 Georgia State University
 s...@gsu.edu
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --
 Liberationtech is public  archives are searchable on Google. Violations of 
 list guidelines will get you moderated: 
 https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, 
 change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at 
 compa...@stanford.edu.
 
 
 
 -- 
 David Golumbia
 dgolum...@gmail.com
 -- 
 

Re: [liberationtech] The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom

2015-03-11 Thread Shawn Mathew Powers
Hi! Thanks for the query below! Thrilled that folks are excited about the book. 
Happy to talk about it at length...

Rebecca and Evgeny both wrote excellent books, as have others. The Real Cyber 
War differs in a few ways that may be interesting to LibTech folks. For 
example, it:
• Outlines the role of the CIA in propping up Silicon Valley after the dot-com 
bubble burst;
• Draws from extensive FOIA and interview data to demonstrate close and 
strategic ties between NSA, Google and other parts of the industry;
• Suggests a path forward grounded in restoring international law relating to 
the secrecy of communications, an idea codified in the two earliest 
international conventions in history;
• Offers a wholesale critique of multi-stakeholderism (in relation to internet 
governance), focusing on ISOC, IETF and ICANN in particular;
• Provides an in-depth analysis of Google’s strategic plans and suggests a 
framework for thinking through the responsibility of governments to regulate 
big data markets moving forward;
• Traces the rise of regimes of ‘information sovereignty,’ comparing the 
various ways and strategies in which governments are increasingly effective at 
controlling information flows in both democratic and non-democratic contexts.

Hoping that some of these topics are of interest, and happy to discuss further 
of course. Thanks again — really appreciate the enthusiasm and look forward to 
reactions, comments, etc. All the best,

sp


—

Shawn Powers, PhD
Assistant Professor, Communication
Associate Director, CIME
Georgia State University
s...@gsu.edumailto:s...@gsu.edu
realcyberwar.comhttp://realcyberwar.com

Fellow
Center for Media, Data and Society
Central European University


On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 9:05 PM, Nick Judd 
n...@nclarkjudd.commailto:n...@nclarkjudd.com wrote:
This really does sound fascinating. I would love to know more about what this 
book does that earlier work coming off of trade presses (The Net Delusion, 
Consent of the Networked) did not already do. I am sure there is a long answer 
-- I would just like to know what it is ...


Nick Judd


On 03/11/2015 02:15 PM, Yasha Levine wrote:
Have to say that I share David's enthusiasm. The book looks great and is 
extremely timely.

On Mar 11, 2015, at 12:08 PM, David Golumbia 
dgolum...@gmail.commailto:dgolum...@gmail.com wrote:

wow. thanks for sharing this. from where I sit, that looks like hitting a nail 
on the head that has needed such a direct hit for quite a while. as the 
publisher's site tags it: How the freedom-to-connect movement aids Western 
hegemony. Can't wait to read it.

DG

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 2:55 PM, Shawn Mathew Powers 
s...@gsu.edumailto:s...@gsu.edu wrote:
We are pleased to announce the release of The Real Cyber War: The Political 
Economy of Internet Freedom (University of Illinois Press, 2015, 
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/83cdd9wm9780252039126.html) by 
Shawn Powers (https://gsu.academia.edu/smp) and Michael Jablonski 
(http://www.realcyberwar.com/authors/). The book is on sale now 
(http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Cyber-War-Communication/dp/025208070X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8qid=1426072769sr=1-1)
 for $25 (paperback). The Kindle edition 
(http://www.amazon.com/Real-Cyber-War-Political-Communication-ebook/dp/B00UGIKUVA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8sr=1-1qid=1426072769)
 is just $11.75.

About the book: Discussions surrounding the role of the internet in society are 
dominated by terms such as internet freedom, surveillance, cybersecurity, and, 
most prolifically, cyber war. But behind the rhetoric of cyber war is an 
ongoing state-centered battle for control of information resources. Powers and 
Jablonski conceptualize this real cyber war as the utilization of digital 
networks for geopolitical purposes, including covert attacks against another 
state’s electronic systems, but also, and more importantly, the variety of ways 
the internet is used to further a state’s economic and military agendas.

Moving beyond debates on the democratic value of new and emerging information 
technologies, The Real Cyber War focuses on political, economic, and 
geopolitical factors driving internet freedom policies, in particular the U.S. 
State Department's emerging doctrine in support of a universal freedom to 
connect. They argue that efforts to create a universal internet built upon 
Western legal, political, and social preferences is driven by economic and 
geopolitical motivations rather than the humanitarian and democratic ideals 
that typically accompany related policy discourse. In fact, the 
freedom-to-connect movement is intertwined with broader efforts to structure 
global society in ways that favor American and Western cultures, economies, and 
governments.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Geopolitics  the Internet

1. Information Freedom  US Foreign Policy: A History

2. The Information Industrial Complex

3. Google, Information  Power

4. The Economics of 

[liberationtech] Considerations on Wassenaar Arrangement Proposals for Surveillance Technologies

2015-03-11 Thread Collin Anderson
Libtech colleagues --

On Monday, Access released my paper regarding the Wassenaar Arrangement's
controls on Intrusion Software and IP Network Surveillance equipment. Since
the release of the changes over a year ago, there has been a great deal of
confusion about their scope, and the paper seeks to clarify what would will
be controlled in order to support export control authorities and civil
society interacting with these technologies.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Blog:
https://www.accessnow.org/blog/2015/03/09/new-white-paper-recommends-targeted-approach-to-controlling-export-of-surve
Full Paper:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/access.3cdn.net/f3e3f15691a3cc156a_e1m6b9vib.pdf

Cordially,
Collin
-- 
*Collin David Anderson*
averysmallbird.com | @cda | Washington, D.C.
-- 
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list guidelines will get you moderated: 
https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, 
change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at 
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