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  • Published: 30 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141969923
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

The Filter Bubble

What The Internet Is Hiding From You




A blistering expose of the hidden rise of internet 'personalization' - how Google and Facebook filter news to fit our prejudices

Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets.

Welcome to 2011.

Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices.

The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. The Filter Bubble reveals how this hidden web is starting to control our lives - and shows what we can do about it.

  • Published: 30 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141969923
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

About the author

Eli Pariser

ELI PARISER is the board president and former executive director of MoveOn.org, which at five million members is one of the largest citizens' organizations in American politics. During his time leading MoveOn, he sent 937,510,800 e-mails to members in his name. He has written op-eds for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, and World News Tonight.

Praise for The Filter Bubble

Eli Pariser is worried. He cares deeply about our common social sphere and sees it in jeopardy. He has got me worried, too. A must-read

David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect

Anyone who cares about the future of [humanity] in a digital landscape should read this book - especially if it is not showing up in your recommended reads on Amazon

Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc

If you feel that the Web is your wide open window on the world, you need to read this book to understand what you aren't seeing

Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget

Internet firms increasingly show us less of the wide world, locating us in the neighborhood of the familiar. The risk, as Eli Pariser shows, is that each of us may unwittingly come to inhabit a ghetto of one

Clay Shirky, author Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus

You spend half your life in Internet space, but trust me - you don't understand how it works. This book is a masterpiece of investigation and interpretation

Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 350.org

A must-read book about one of the central issues in contemporary culture: personalization

Caterina Fake, co-founder of flickr