Zittrain, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University, has written a timely book: it looks at the state of the Internet as it is right now, as well as its potential to become, surprisingly enough, a closed system devoid of its characteristic rapid innovation.

Zittrain’s point is this: innovation in the technology area, especially the Internet, can be attributed to the availability of generative technologies that are open enough for people to tinker with them. However, several factors are leading to the rise of closed systems that stifle this creativity. This is bad for development and should be avoided.

The author starts by comparing two iconic products from Apple: Apple 2 and iPhone. While Apple 2 was open and allowed users to write programs that could be run on the platform (hence generative), the iPhone provided a “sterile” and “locked” environment. He goes on to predict a future of “sterile appliances tethered to a network of control.” This is explained further in the next three chapters. In chapter 1, Zittrain discusses the rise of personal computers that have displaced the mainframes, and, in chapter 2, the rise of the openly connected Internet that replaced the silo model of CompuServe and Prodigy. However, as discussed in chapter 3, the price paid for these generative technologies has been a decrease in the security of the system and the networks--viruses, worms, and spam.

In the next three chapters, Zittrain looks deeper into various aspects of a generative system, including its definition, features, strengths, participation, and innovation. In chapter 5, he puts forward the argument that closed appliances, like TiVo or a firewalled Internet, lead to regulability and “perfect enforcement.” The “software as a service” business model seems to be transforming even the open personal computers (PCs) into endpoints that host a browser, taking the power away from the end user, and making them more susceptible to control: “lock down the device, and network censorship and control can be extraordinarily reinforced.” In chapter 6, he goes on to look at the rise of Wikipedia, and discusses its success factors and shortcomings. In the last section of the book, Zittrain proposes solutions to the problem faced by generative technologies. He explores the fine balance needed to pull this off: he shows that the traditional call for network neutrality and making operating system (OS) providers accountable for security threats could lead to an even more closed system.

This book provides a fresh perspective on some of the technology developments in the recent past. In doing so, it provides a glimpse of the closed, controlled society that the future is about to offer us. This is a thoughtful, alarming book that needs to be read and discussed as widely as possible.