chapters.indigo.ca: Republic.com 2.0: Cass R. Sunstein: Books

Format:Hardcover

Dimensions:272 Pages, 5.5 x 8.5 x 0 in

Published:August 20, 2007

Publisher:Princeton University Press

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:0691133565
ISBN - 13:9780691133560

What happens to democracy and free speech if people use the Internet to listen and speak only to the like-minded? What is the benefit of the Internet''s unlimited choices if citizens narrowly filter the information they receive? Cass Sunstein first asked these questions in 2001''s Republic.com. Now, in Republic.com 2.0, Sunstein thoroughly rethinks the critical relationship between democracy and the Internet in a world where partisan Weblogs have emerged as a significant political force.Republic. …+ read moreWhat happens to democracy and free speech if people use the Internet to listen and speak only to the like-minded? What is the benefit of the Internet''s unlimited choices if citizens narrowly filter the information they receive? Cass Sunstein first asked these questions in 2001''s Republic.com. Now, in Republic.com 2.0, Sunstein thoroughly rethinks the critical relationship between democracy and the Internet in a world where partisan Weblogs have emerged as a significant political force.Republic.com 2.0 highlights new research on how people are using the Internet, especially the blogosphere. Sunstein warns against "information cocoons" and "echo chambers," wherein people avoid the news and opinions that they don''t want to hear. He also demonstrates the need to regulate the innumerable choices made possible by technology. His proposed remedies and reforms emphasize what consumers and producers can do to help avoid the perils, and realize the promise, of the Internet.- read less

"Republic.com enraged many because it asked a set of uncomfortable questions that few had a way of answering. In this beautifully revised edition, Sunstein continues to press these difficult questions, not as an attack on new technologies but as a challenge to make them make democracy work. This is a compelling if sober set of questions from America''s foremost legal scholar."--Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University