Book Talk: Internet for the People

THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD IN-PERSON AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE, 300 FUNSTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO. THE DISCUSSION WILL BE RECORDED.

Why is the internet so broken, and what could ever possibly fix it? The internet is broken, Tarnoff argues, because it is owned by private firms and run for profit. Google annihilates your privacy and Facebook amplifies right-wing propaganda because it is profitable to do so. But the internet wasn't always like this—it had to be remade for the purposes of profit maximization, through a years-long process of privatization that turned a small research network into a powerhouse of global capitalism. Tarnoff tells the story of the privatization that made the modern internet, and which set in motion the crises that consume it today.

Registration is free for the in-person event at 300 Funston Avenue, San Francisco, California.

Purchase a copy of INTERNET FOR THE PEOPLE at registration to be signed by the authors at the event. You can also purchase unsigned copies from the publisher, or from your own local bookstore.

SESSION RECORDING

If you can't make it to our in-person event, the discussion will be recorded and available for viewing the next day. To receive a notification when the recording is available, select the "Watch Recording" free ticket at registration.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

BEN TARNOFF is a tech worker, a writer, and the co-founder of Logic Magazine. His most recent book is Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future.

LILA BAILEY is Senior Policy Counsel for the Internet Archive. She leads the team responsible for the legal and policy strategies supporting the non-profit library’s mission to enable Universal Access to All Knowledge. Lila has spent her career as a passionate advocate of democratizing access to information, culture, and educational resources. In 2020, Public Knowledge recognized Lila’s contributions to public interest technology policy as the 17th annual winner of the IP3 award in the category of Intellectual Property. Fortune Magazine named her a “copyright champion” for her work leading the Archive’s fair use defense against four major commercial publishers in the Hachette v. Internet Archive case about digital book lending. Lila holds a JD from Berkeley Law and a BA in Philosophy from Brown University.