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mst3kakalina 's review for:
The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld
by Jamie Bartlett
If you don't hang out much on the Internet, then "The Dark Net" will be a cursory but fascinating tour through the tubes, like a fucked-up version of Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day?"
If, on the other hand, you know what pro-ana/pro-mia, rickrolling, and /b/ are, there's not much here that's terribly new. There are still great snippets from interviews here and there, but overall that crowd will find this more entertaining than informative or enlightening. I, for one, was expecting an in-depth look at things like Tor and cryptocurrencies and other things that happen on "the deep web" or that are at least heavily encrypted; as a digital native I'm well-acquainted with /b/'s shenanigans, thank you. So I was a bit let down in that respect, but I still had fun reading it. Plus, as of this review (January 2015), the book is hot off the press and is up to speed with most things happening online.
Fortunately, Bartlett (or his editor?) quite intelligently anticipated that complaint and included a list of recommended further reading for each chapter. So if you're going in with my anticipations, take down those titles to read at a later date (or even in conjunction!) and let The Dark Net be some mildly interesting and distracting public transit fare.
If, on the other hand, you know what pro-ana/pro-mia, rickrolling, and /b/ are, there's not much here that's terribly new. There are still great snippets from interviews here and there, but overall that crowd will find this more entertaining than informative or enlightening. I, for one, was expecting an in-depth look at things like Tor and cryptocurrencies and other things that happen on "the deep web" or that are at least heavily encrypted; as a digital native I'm well-acquainted with /b/'s shenanigans, thank you. So I was a bit let down in that respect, but I still had fun reading it. Plus, as of this review (January 2015), the book is hot off the press and is up to speed with most things happening online.
Fortunately, Bartlett (or his editor?) quite intelligently anticipated that complaint and included a list of recommended further reading for each chapter. So if you're going in with my anticipations, take down those titles to read at a later date (or even in conjunction!) and let The Dark Net be some mildly interesting and distracting public transit fare.