We refer to the internet as abstract from reality. By doing so, we obscure where
the real power lies.
The internet is in fact a network of physical cables and connections, a web of wires
enmeshing the world, connecting huge data centres to one another and eventually
to us. All are owned by someone, financed by someone, regulated by someone.
The System is a global tour of the architecture of the internet: who built it, who
funds it, who governs it, how it works. It shows how an invention once hailed as a
democratising force has concentrated power in places it already existed - that the
system, in other words, remains the same as it did before.
the real power lies.
The internet is in fact a network of physical cables and connections, a web of wires
enmeshing the world, connecting huge data centres to one another and eventually
to us. All are owned by someone, financed by someone, regulated by someone.
The System is a global tour of the architecture of the internet: who built it, who
funds it, who governs it, how it works. It shows how an invention once hailed as a
democratising force has concentrated power in places it already existed - that the
system, in other words, remains the same as it did before.
