While most debates about the internet continue to focus on issues like the personal impact of internet addiction or the questionable data-mining practices of individual companies like Facebook, Digital Disconnect raises bigger questions about the political impact of the corporate and commercial interests that now dominate the internet. Along the way, it examines the ongoing attack on net neutrality by telecom monopolies like Comcast and Verizon; explores how internet giants like Facebook and Google have amassed huge profits by surreptitiously collecting personal data and selling it to advertisers; and shows how these companies have routinely colluded with the national security state to advance covert mass surveillance programs.
Even more urgently, Digital Disconnect clarifies how the rise of social media as a leading information source has worked to isolate people into ideological filter bubbles and elevate fake news at the expense of real journalism. At a time when debates about the questionable business practices of telecom and tech companies are moving to center stage like never before, Digital Disconnect raises crucial questions about who gets to control the internet and what it means for our democracy.
