The final battle is here, and there are no Davids, only Goliaths

The Master Switch's author, Tim Wu - a Columbia law professor -matter-of-factly says this book is a history of information empires in the US and the country's, and now, the world's, fascination for behemoths who rule the roost - be it AT&T at the beginning when telephones were a rage, and today, when Facebook and Google have come to be the platforms for our online nomdeguerre.

A character in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love says, "Every age thinks it's the modern age, but this one really is." Wu has put this hypothesis to test with an insightful look into how the 'Information Age' has evolved since the 1800s until now. What grabs you by the scruff of your neck and pay attention is comparisons such as AT&T being the Google-equivalent during the 1910-20 period, when it subverted its own mission for 'public good' by succumbing to bottomlines and profits. Today, Google's own dealing with China to keeps afloat in the Communist country is testament to how it has cast its mission statement by the wayside.

The might have as well been about warfare. Although the book ostensibly is about a good business model for the Information Age, it's as much about stratagem about vanquishing the enemy by enticement, force or absolute annihilation. And this is the pizzazz of the book - the concept of 'The Cycle'.

Using a circular logic model, the Cycle details how corporate interests seek control or monopoly when a new communication technology is introduced by an assorted number of inventors, start-ups or hackers. Therefore, the new innovation is subsumed by the superstructure. In this almost-Marxist description of the dawn and dusk of new technology, Wu has recognised a pattern that has ruled the information world ever since Western Union (the major US telegraph operator of the day) refused to buy AT&T (pioneer of telephone technology) for $100,000 and went bust eventually in the 'ideas department'.

Cut to present, Wu makes the Internet an ideal candidate for The Cycle's vagaries. His enfant terribles of the future are Comcast, which is in the running to takeover NBC-Universal, and Google's subsequent choice between whether to abandon 'openness' or eliminate its rivals. As a reviewer aptly summarised: "His [Wu's] most thought-provoking argument about the future may actually be the past."

The Master Switch and its central idea of The Cycle is an extension of a phrase made famous by Wu earlier - 'Net neutrality'.

Net neutrality details how while competition has massive benefits, the market does not always ensure competition or desirable outcomes. And the primary motive for this obstruction to the inevitable march of technology is the fear of obsolescence. The recent WikiLeaks controversy and debate surrounding the limits of Internet freedom is another battle in the epic 'Information War' that will play out across our broadband connections and servers in the near future.

�dnasunday@gmx.com

Credit:Manjunath KS