Summary: The Master Switch E-Book

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• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 25

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Tim Wu's book: “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires”.

This complete summary of "The Master Switch" by Tim Wu, a renowned professor of law, presents his argument that information technology started as an open playing field and then eventually became dominated by a big entity exercising monopoly. He states that the world’s information is now traveling in a single network; the Internet, therefore he says that great information powers are locked in a battle over the Internet’s future.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand the potential fate of the Internet to an information empire
• Expand your knowledge of business politics and information wars

To learn more, read "The Master Switch" and discover how information empires are set to be locked into a battle for the Internet's future.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: The Master Switch by Tim Wu

Book Abstract

Every 20th Century American information technology – telephone, radio, television and film – started out first as a level and open playing field where anyone could join in before eventually becoming dominated by some big entity or corporation exercising monopoly control and extracting exorbitant revenues for controlling the master switch.

There is a distinctive Cycle where a bright new communications technology (developed by an outsider) first appears, gains acceptance because of its openness and promise before flaws, kinks and limitations become apparent. At that point, some mogul comes along who promises to make the new technology function better if the technology is centralized and made more orderly. Once the market is closed, that mogul is then able to control the technology and extract a monopolist’s premium forever more.

With the bulk of the world’s information now traveling over a single network, centralized control of the Internet in the future is a very real danger. Today’s great information powers – Google, Apple and a resurgent AT&T – are locked in a battle royal over the Internet’s future. With so much of modern life now dependant on that network, this is a battle that freedom and liberty cannot afford to lose.

About the Author

TIM WU is a professor at Columbia University and a telecommunications policy advocate. Scientific American recognized him as one of fifty leaders in science and technology in 2006. He writes for Slate and is a contributor toTime, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Forbes and The Washington Post. He is a fellow of the New America Foundation and chairman of the media reform organization The Free Press.

Summary of The Master Switch (Tim Wu)

The Rise – The First Phase of the Cycle

Whenever a new information technology comes along, it is never developed by an industry insider. It’s always pioneered by an outsider who is most certainly innovative but also willing to be disruptive to the established order and to take substantial commercial risks. To illustrate:

Telephone

Alexander Bell first got his prototype telephone working on March 10, 1876. When his new company, the Bell Company, started selling telephones to consumers in 1877, they didn’t seem much of a threat to the dominant Western Union, the exclusive owner of the only nationwide telegraph network. Western Union even turned down a chance to buy Bell’s patents for $100,000 in 1877. When it became clear how much consumers liked the telephone, Western Union entered the phone business itself commissioning a promising young inventor named Thomas Edison to design a better telephone. Western Union and Bell then competed aggressively for the new and emerging market. Later, Bell would become American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) and with financial backing from J.P. Morgan buy a controlling interest in Western Union.

Radio