Should the Internet and other technologies be completely free of control, an anarchy, or should they be subject to absolute controls dictated by an authority, an oligarchy? This describes the issues that Vaidhyanathan addresses in his thought-provoking book. Following are some of the ideas presented.

Chapter 1 presents a history of the clash between anarchists and oligarchs, setting the stage for the rest of the book. Chapter 2 characterizes the Internet as a peer-to-peer system, as illustrated by the battle between music creators, copyright owners, and music consumers when the Internet was used as a vehicle for sharing Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer 3 (MP3) music files (for example, Napster).

Chapter 3 discusses cynicism applied to cyberspace. More questions are asked than answered. Most people use the Internet for three functions: inter-personal communication (email), news and library research, and shopping. One conflict discussed here is that the technology that makes safe shopping possible (128-bit encryption) is the same technology that let the 9/11 terrorists use the Internet for their hateful planning, without detection. A cynic would say this is the nature of the beast.

Chapter 5 considers the movie industry. One fundamental difference between music and movies is the structure of the product. At a cost of three dollars to rent a DVD movie, the sheer download size of such a movie gives little incentive to deal in pirate copies on the Internet. There is a discussion of various copy protection mechanisms, and of the laws (such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)) that provide penalties to hackers who might circumvent protection mechanisms. A point is made that creating derivative works based on original movies is part of culture, and copyright schemes thwart this type of creativity.

Chapter 9 discusses examples of control versus laissez-faire, from science and mathematics. From science: should the maps of the human genome be patented, to give a commercial advantage to a commercial interest, or should they be public property? From mathematics: anyone who manufactures a security intervention device (decryption program) for profit violates the DMCA law.

In conclusion, Vaidhyanathan says his book was supposed to be about entertainment, the battle over control of digital music, text, and video. Instead, his concerns moved to the regulation and control of all sorts of information, including cultural and political. His position is that we should construct and maintain systems that discourage both anarchy and oligarchy.

This is a thoughtful, well-written, academic work that deserves reading. Hopefully, it will start a public dialog that will guide the future of technology.