The future of the Internet

A non-generative information ecosystem advances the regulability of the Internet to a stage that goes beyond addressing discrete regulatory problems, instead allowing regulators to alter basic freedoms that previously needed no theoretical or practical defense.

J. Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It

I recently heard that Jonathan Zittrain's book The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It was worth reading. There are supposed to be interesting insights into information security in this book, along with a discussion of ways that it either will or will not work on the Internet. I started reading this book, over my recent Christmas vacation but had to give it up after a while. There may be useful insights in this book, but I couldn't understand exactly what it was trying to say in many places. The quote above is from one of those places.

I can't quite understand stuff that's written this way. That doesn't mean that it's a bad book; it just means that it's written in a way that's not suitable for me. You can even download a free copy of the book here if you want to take a closer look at it. If the style of the quote above doesn't bother you, you'll probably be able to find those useful insights that others have found in this book.

After I put down The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, I picked up a copy of The Cellar by Richard Laymon, which I managed to finish in a few hours. The Cellar is a horror novel from the '80s in which you learn what's been killing unlucky visitors to a small town in California. It has absolutely nothing to do with information security, but that turns out to be OK every now and then.