Internet in Public Life

Verna V. Gehring is editor at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland, and editor of Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly.

• Part 1 I The Information Superhighway: Toward a Morality of Information?Chapter 2 Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines MatterChapter 3 Reliance and Reliability: The Problem of Information on the InternetChapter 4 Do Hackers Provide a Public Service?Part 5 II Social Bonds: Stronger or Weaker?Chapter 6 The Impact of the Internet on Civic Life: An Early AssessmentChapter 7 The Internet and Civil SocietyChapter 8 Social Capital and the NetChapter 9 The Cosmopolitan Project: Does the Internet Have a Global Public Face?

We have all been holding our breath to see what effect the explosive developments in information technology would have on society and culture. This helpful and compact book gives us a standpoint and a bearing on what has happened. The authors have carefully looked at what’s out there. They have also had the courage to consider what is most important—our moral condition and our sense of community.