After the Digital Tornado
Networks, Algorithms, Humanity

Leading technology scholars examine how networks powered by algorithms are transforming humanity, posing deep questions about power, freedom, and fairness. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Kevin Werbach (Edited by)

9781108426633, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 July 2020

320 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.5 kg

'This very informative and readable book is suitable for all technology and business professionals, as well as students, faculty, and others interested in staying abreast of technology … Highly recommended.' C. Tappert, Choice

Networks powered by algorithms are pervasive. Major contemporary technology trends - Internet of Things, Big Data, Digital Platform Power, Blockchain, and the Algorithmic Society - are manifestations of this phenomenon. The internet, which once seemed an unambiguous benefit to society, is now the basis for invasions of privacy, massive concentrations of power, and wide-scale manipulation. The algorithmic networked world poses deep questions about power, freedom, fairness, and human agency. The influential 1997 Federal Communications Commission whitepaper “Digital Tornado” hailed the “endless spiral of connectivity” that would transform society, and today, little remains untouched by digital connectivity. Yet fundamental questions remain unresolved, and even more serious challenges have emerged. This important collection, which offers a reckoning and a foretelling, features leading technology scholars who explain the legal, business, ethical, technical, and public policy challenges of building pervasive networks and algorithms for the benefit of humanity. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Introduction. An endless spiral of connectivity?
Prelude
Digital Tornado: The internet and telecommunication policy Kevin Werbach
I. Networks: 1. The regulated end of internet law, and the return to computer and information law? Christopher T. Marsden
2. Networks, standards, and network-and-standard-based governance Julie E. Cohen
3. Tech dominance and the policeman at the elbow Tim Wu
II. Algorithms: 4. Who do we blame for the filter bubble? On the roles of math, data, & people in algorithmic social systems Kartik Hosanagar and Alex Miller
5. Regulating the feedback effect Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
6. Shaping our tools: contestability as a means to promote responsible algorithmic decision making in the professions Daniel n. Kluttz, Nitin Kohli, and Deirdre K. Mulligan
III. Humanity: 7. Why a commitment to pluralism should limit how humanity is re-engineered Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger
8. Caveat usor: epistemic inequality as information warfare and surveillance capitalism's river of fire Shoshana Zuboff
9. The siren song: algorithmic governance by blockchain Kevin Werbach.

Subject Areas: Computer networking & communications [UT], Privacy & data protection [URD], Algorithms & data structures [UMB], Web graphics & design [UGB], Internet guides & online services [UDB], IT & Communications law [LNQ]