The control revolution

In this exploration of the meaning of the Internet, journalist and legal scholar Andrew Shapiro weaves a narrative through events that are occurring all around us. Dissidents use the Net to evade censorship to get their messages out. Musicans bypass record companies and put their songs on the world wide web for fans to download directly. "Day traders" roil the stock market, buying securities online with the click of a mouse and then selling minutes later when the price jumps. Shapiro argues that there is a common thread underlying these developments. It is not just a change in how we compute…