The Dark Net
Published on 21. August 2014
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-434-02315-8 (ISBN)
Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS AND LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE
Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit - a world of Google, Hotmail, Facebook and Amazon - lies a vast and often hidden network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits, and where people can be anyone, or do anything, they want. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.
The dark net is an underworld that stretches from popular social media sites to the most secretive corners of the encrypted web. It is a world that frequently appears in newspaper headlines, but one that is little understood, and rarely explored. The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures: trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes.
Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.
Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit - a world of Google, Hotmail, Facebook and Amazon - lies a vast and often hidden network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits, and where people can be anyone, or do anything, they want. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.
The dark net is an underworld that stretches from popular social media sites to the most secretive corners of the encrypted web. It is a world that frequently appears in newspaper headlines, but one that is little understood, and rarely explored. The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures: trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes.
Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.
Reviews / Votes
A fascinating and disturbing journey through the furthest recesses of the Internet. Jamie Bartlett is an expert guide... he shines an invaluable light on a world that remains determinedly opaque. -- Ian Burrell * Independent * A hell of an achievement... Buy it and read it. -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times * Eye-opening ... Bartlett is an informal yet informed guide ... As befits a cross-party intellectual, he minimizes binary distinctions, conveying instead a mixture of conservative disquiet and liberal tolerance. The tales he tells are exemplary, titillating and sometimes frightening * Times Literary Supplement * Bartlett anatomises the usual bogeymen and demonstrates that they're real.The Dark Net is, for anyone engaged with the web and the effects it is having on our culture, necessary reading... a flashlight in a dark, dark cellar. -- Michael Bywater * Spectator * A fascinating and disturbing exploration of the outer edges of the internet and the human mind. -- Josh Cohen [A] thorough and assiduously researched account of the deviantly erotic, subversive and criminal aspects of web life. -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times * A confident and well-informed guide... By meeting the people behind the online activity, Bartlett humanises it. -- Douglas Heaven * New Scientist * The Dark Net offers smart, provoking reportage from the crooked crannies of digital culture, married to a quietly impressive analysis of how technology is amplifying both the best and the worst of us. Required reading for anyone looking to escape media hysteria and get to grips with the 21st century's most compelling, discomforting complexities. -- Tom Chatfield A picturesque tour of this disquieting netherworld... the darkest recesses of the internet, for better and for worse, and being illuminated. -- Sue Halpern * The New York Review of Books * A judgement-free look at the mechanics of trolling and other internet bad behaviour and generates more light than heat. -- Helen Lewis * New Statesman, Books of the Year *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
565 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-434-02315-8 (9780434023158)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jamie Bartlett is the bestselling author of The Dark Net, Radicals, and The People Vs Tech, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and won the 2019 Transmission Prize. He founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think-tank Demos and regularly writes on technology and society for the Spectator, the Sunday Times and elsewhere. In 2017 Jamie presented the two-part BBC TWO documentary series The Secrets of Silicon Valley. His TedTalk about dark net drugs markets has been watched nearly six million times. In 2019 his critically acclaimed BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen reached number 1 on the iTunes charts, and has been downloaded millions of times.