{"product_id":"cloud-empires-9780262548380","title":"Cloud Empires","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe rise of the platform economy into statelike dominance over the lives of entrepreneurs, users, and workers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe early Internet was a lawless place, populated by scam artists who made buying or selling anything online risky business. Then Amazon, eBay, Upwork, and Apple established secure digital platforms for selling physical goods, crowdsourcing labor, and downloading apps. \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eThese tech giants have gone on to rule the Internet like autocrats. How did this happen? How did users and workers become the hapless subjects of online economic empires? The Internet was supposed to liberate us from powerful institutions. In \u003ci\u003eCloud Empires\u003c\/i\u003e, digital economy expert Vili Lehdonvirta explores the rise of the platform economy into statelike dominance over our lives and proposes a new way forward.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDigital platforms create new marketplaces and prosperity on the Internet, Lehdonvirta explains, but they are ruled by Silicon Valley despots with little or no account","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400708137303,"sku":"9780262548380","price":19.55,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780262548380.jpg?v=1730471353","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/cloud-empires-9780262548380","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}