Republic.com 2.0 - Softcover

Sunstein, Cass R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691143285 ISBN 13: 9780691143286

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2009

Synopsis

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.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.

About this title

About the Author

Cass R. Sunstein is the Felix Frankfurter Professor at Harvard Law School. His many books include Worst-Case Scenarios, A Constitution of Many Minds, and, with Richard Thaler, Nudge.

From the Back Cover

"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

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691143285
• ISBN 13: 9780691143286
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272