The Internet was once envisioned as a borderless realm, promising to unify nations into a peaceful global society and empower individuals with unlimited access to knowledge. Supported by Western deregulation, this dream flourished - until recently. The European Union's introduction of strict laws governing privacy, competition, and content moderation marked a turning point that shocked big tech and initiated a wave of regulations worldwide.

In this book, two leading European experts present the reasons behind this seismic shift. They explain how American dominance by a few colossal companies has reshaped our online lives and triggered a movement towards a regulated Internet. This insightful book also offers perspectives on future developments, emphasizing that our collective decisions shape the digital landscape.

This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the changing landscape of Internet governance and its global implications.

Autorentext

Vittorio Bertola is an engineer, policy expert, and digital rights activist, who currently manages governmental affairs and technical standardization at Open-Xchange, a global leader in open-source platforms for email and DNS. Recently, he was one of the promoters of interoperability requirements in the EU's Digital Markets Act, co-founding the Coalition for Competitive Digital Markets. He served on the Board of ICANN, the Internet's domain names regulator, at the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance, and in several other national and international Internet policy positions. He was an early leader in Italy's online democracy experiments, serving as a town councilor in Turin.

Stefano Quintarelli is a computer scientist, internet pioneer, venture capitalist, and founder of the first Italian unicorn. He chaired the United Nations Advisory Group on Advanced Technologies for Commerce and E-business and was a member of the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence; he also served as the chairman of Italy's public digitization agency and authored several essays on these topics. He was a member of the Italian Parliament (2013-18) and is the inventor of SPID, the Italian public digital identity system.