Based on MacKinnon's experience as a CNN reporter in China, and subsequent founder of the Global Voices Online project, Consent of the Networked offers an interesting glimpse of how repressive regimes use “networked authoritarianism” to control their populations through their online activities, and how activists evade these controls.

She also addresses the moral and economic pressures on technology companies to bow toward these authoritarian regimes, even as the biggest companies (Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, and the like) spy on its users in search of ever greater profits.

Consent of the Networked also looks at the question of who should control the Internet. You will learn about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN}, the International Telecommunication Union, the Internet Governance Forum and other obscure bodies that govern the net. These bodies decide issues that can affect everyone’s usage of the World Wide Web. The current controversy over net neutrality is also covered here.

What is most inspiring and useful about this book is MacKinnon's reminder that the democratic promise of the Internet cannot be realized unless Internet users become active defending democracy; that is, we must become Netizens. Viewed within the context of governmental vs. corporate vs. "netizen" control, MacKinnon makes a strong case for a “Netizen-Centric Internet.”

I don’t agree with everything MacKinnon writes here. Some of the stories feel a little dated (though some were updated in an afterword for the paperback edition). Unlike other books I’ve read on this topic, MacKinnon is the one who urges all of us to get involved in the fight for democracy online, and offers resources to help you do just that (see the Get Involved page at www.consentofthenetworked.com). That’s the most important part of this book. Make your own voice heard.