Technologies are not neutral. The Internet is revolutionary, but not Utopian. Government has an important role to play on the electronic frontier. Information is not knowledge. Wiring the schools will not save them.
Information wants to be protected.
Understanding technology should be an essential component of global citizenship. Andrew L. Shapiro is a writer, lawyer, and policy analyst with a particular interest in the impact of new technologies such as the Internet. He has also been a fellow at The Twentieth Century Fund, a New York City think tank for which he is writing a book on the politics of new media. He is a cofounder of the Technorealism project, a new attempt to raise public awareness about the impact of technology. His new book is a lengthy expression of techno-realist principles, celebrating both the liberating and democratic features of the Internet and raising flags about ominous efforts to limit and shape individual autonomy in cyberspace.