Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society

How to comprehend and correct the negative impact of the internet on politics, the economy, the environment and humanity? Reset is a fast-paced, compelling expose and a rallying call for clear change.

‘Reading this book might make you wish to set fire to your smartphone, but it might also make you wish to call for reform. If you do the latter you might consider the former, as long as that thing is on, they know where you live.’

Margaret Atwood

‘There have been many disturbing books about the surveillance society and its abuses. This one is more convincing than most. … He has some of the best – ie most horrifying – stories. And, above all, he is right: one more unchallenged step down this road and any remaining shreds of our freedom and privacy will be lost.’

Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

 

‘Deibert is a rare hybrid who combines an advanced understanding of computer technology with a rich background in political science. He is also a legend in security and tech circles.’

Misha Glenny, McMafia

Drawing on the cutting-edge research of Citizen Lab, the world-renowned digital security research group he founded, Ronald J. Deibert exposes the influence of the communications ecosystem on society. He tracks a mostly unregulated surveillance industry, innovations in technologies of remote control, superpower policing practices, dark PR firms and highly profitable hack-for-hire services feeding off rivers of poorly secured personal data. He also unearths how dependence on social media and its expanding universe of consumer electronics creates immense pressure on the natural environment.

Determined to find solutions, Deibert has written a unique, readable and forward-looking book. In order to combat authoritarian practices, environmental degradation and rampant electronic consumerism, Deibert argues for a set of very specific restraints on tech platforms and governments to reclaim the internet for civil society.

It’s time for us to push RESET. 

Winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

‘No one has done more than Ron Deibert and his lab to expose the enemies of the internet … Reset is the definitive narrative of where we went wrong and a last chance to make things right.’

Edward Snowden

 

‘Tech is at a crossroads between oppression and liberation, and Ronald J. Deibert is our leading expert on the forces steering it in either direction. Reset is a road map revealing the secret alleys and byways that brought us to this juncture, and the ways ahead that we could navigate to a better future.’

Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Walkaway

 

‘Ron Deibert has been at the heart of analysing the harms of technology to human rights, and increasingly to the human condition, for decades. His deep research and clear moral compass make his plea for a “reset” an urgent one … Essential reading.’

Marietje Schaake, international policy director of the Cyber Policy Center, Stanford University, and president of the CyberPeace Institute

 

‘Destined to become one of the 21st century’s seminal political texts.’

The Herald

Read an extract.

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The ebook is also available to buy from your favourite e-retailers.

The audiobook is available to buy from Audible, Apple Books and Google Play.