ANALY ZE T H I S !
Dark side of the
digital world
Big data, unintended consequences: What Amazon’s domination of the
book publishing industry could portend.
“In the book business
the prospect of a single
owner of both the means
of production and the
modes of distribution is
especially worrisome ...”
— George Packer
BY VIJAY MEHROTRA
14
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Given my love of books, it is perhaps not surprising that Amazon.com – where, thanks to the digital
technologies of today, a plethora of books can immediately be found about nearly any idea that pops into
my head and be delivered (free with Amazon Prime
membership!) to my doorstep with remarkable speed
– is a website that I love deeply. Like many avid readers, I purport to do my best to support my local independent booksellers, but too often there is simply no
denying the powerful pull of the super convenient,
instantly gratifying, highly personalized Amazon.com
experience.
Thanks to my bi-monthly book club, I recently read
“Who Owns the Future?” by Jaron Lanier, a celebrated technologist and MacArthur “genius” award winner
best known for his contributions to the field of virtual
reality. Lanier is known as a big thinker, and in this
book – at once rambling, provocative and thoughtful
– he once again shows why.
“WOTF” begins with a bleak assessment of where
digital technology is leading us all. The main thrust of
Lanier’s argument is as follows:
• Technology makes it very easy to give away for
free a lot of things that people find valuable – just
A N A LY T I C S - M A G A Z I N E . O R G
W W W. I N F O R M S . O R G