Who Owns The Internet & How It Owns Us | James Ball | Modern Wisdom Podcast 213

James Ball is a writer, journalist & Pulitzer Prize winner. The internet is more than the website you browse... it's real wires under the Atlantic, humans who have a big red button that can turn everything off, superbuildings with server centres, and a philosophy of freedom of information that we're moving further away from. Sponsor: Sign up to FitBook at https://fitbook.co.uk/join-fitbook/ (enter code MODERNWISDOM for 50% off your membership) Extra Stuff: Buy The System - https://amzn.to/30MgfHB Follow James on Twitter - https://twitter.com/jamesrbuk Get my free Ultimate Life Hacks List to 10x your daily productivity → https://chriswillx.com/lifehacks/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #internet #wikileaks #freedomofspeech - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

James BallguestChris Williamsonhost

Aug 24, 20201h 16mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 24, 2020
Duration: 1h 16m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

James Ball is a writer, journalist & Pulitzer Prize winner. The internet is more than the website you browse... it's real wires under the Atlantic, humans who have a big red button that can turn everything off, superbuildings with server centres, and a philosophy of freedom of information that we're moving further away from. Sponsor: Sign up to FitBook at https://fitbook.co.uk/join-fitbook/ (enter code MODERNWISDOM for 50% off your membership) Extra Stuff: Buy The System - https://amzn.to/30MgfHB Follow James on Twitter - https://twitter.com/jamesrbuk Get my free Ultimate Life Hacks List to 10x your daily productivity → https://chriswillx.com/lifehacks/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #internet #wikileaks #freedomofspeech - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

SPEAKERS

James Ball
guest
Chris Williamson
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring James Ball and Chris Williamson, Who Owns The Internet & How It Owns Us | James Ball | Modern Wisdom Podcast 213 explores inside the Internet’s Hidden Empire: Power, Profit, and Surveillance Unmasked Journalist James Ball explains how the internet’s physical and technical foundations emerged from Cold War military projects and quietly evolved into today’s global critical infrastructure. He details how seemingly neutral systems—undersea cables, naming bodies like ICANN, and ad-tech auctions—centralize power, money, and data in the hands of a few corporations and governments. The conversation exposes the extreme invasiveness of programmatic advertising, the largely unregulated battlefield of cyberwarfare, and the weakness of current governance structures. Ball argues we must stop romanticizing the internet, treat it as industrial infrastructure, and build new rules, rights, and institutions so it serves citizens rather than simply states and venture-backed platforms.

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