A provocative analysis of net neutrality and a call to democratize online communication

This short book is both a primer that explains the history and politics of net neutrality and an argument for a more equitable framework for regulating access to the internet. Pickard and Berman argue that we should not see internet service as a commodity but as a public good necessary for sustaining democratic society in the twenty-first century. They aim to reframe the threat to net neutrality as more than a conflict between digital leviathans like Google and internet service providers like Comcast but as part of a much wider project to commercialize the public sphere and undermine the free speech essential for democracy. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the key concepts underpinning the net neutrality battle and rallying points for future action to democratize online communication.

Victor Pickard is an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. He is the author of America’s Battle for Media Democracy. David Elliot Berman is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. His research focuses on the political economy of new media.