Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization

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Alexander R. Galloway Roger F. Malina (Leonardo Executive Editor, Leonardo/ISAST)

Protocol

How Control Exists after Decentralization

Alexander R. Galloway, Roger F. Malina (Leonardo Executive Editor, Leonardo/ISAST), Sean Cubitt (Professor of Film and Television Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London)

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English

MIT Press
17 February 2006

Networking standards & protocols

Series: Leonardo Book Series

How Control Exists after DecentralizationIs the Internet a vast arena of unrestricted communication and freely exchanged information or a regulated, highly structured virtual bureaucracy? In Protocol, Alexander Galloway argues that the founding principle of the Net is control, not freedom, and that the controlling power lies in the technical protocols that make network connections (and disconnections) possible. He does this by treating the computer as a textual medium that is based on a technological language, code. Code, he argues, can be subject to the same kind of cultural and literary analysis as any natural language; computer languages have their own syntax, grammar, communities, and cultures. Instead of relying on established theoretical approaches, Galloway finds a new way to write about digital media, drawing on his backgrounds in computer programming and critical theory. ""Discipline-hopping is a necessity when it comes to complicated socio-technical topics like protocol,"" he writes in the preface.

Galloway begins by examining the types of protocols that exist, including TCP/IP, DNS, and HTML. He then looks at examples of resistance and subversion-hackers, viruses, cyberfeminism, Internet art-which he views as emblematic of the larger transformations now taking place within digital culture. Written for a nontechnical audience, Protocol serves as a necessary counterpoint to the wildly utopian visions of the Net that were so widespread in earlier days.

By: Alexander R. Galloway
Series edited by: Roger F. Malina (Leonardo Executive Editor Leonardo/ISAST), Sean Cubitt (Professor of Film and Television Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9780262572330
ISBN 10: 0262572338
Series: Leonardo Book Series
Pages: 286
Publication Date: 17 February 2006
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Alexander R. Galloway is Assistant Professor of Media Ecology at New York University.

Reviews for Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization

An engaging methodological hybrid of the Frankfurt School and UNIX for Dummies_.... Galloway brings the uncool question of morality back into critical thinking. - Village Voice A book on computer science written by someone who's not a computer scientist, and that's a good thing. - Gary Singh, Metro Silicon Valley