Republic.com 2.0

Preface xi Chapter One: The Daily Me 1 Chapter Two: An Analogy and an Ideal 19 Chapter Three: Polarization and Cybercascades 46 Chapter Four: Social Glue and Spreading Information 97 Chapter Five: Citizens 119 Chapter Six: Blogs 138 Chapter Seven: What's Regulation? A Plea 151 Chapter Eight: Freedom of Speech 165 Chapter Nine: Policies and Proposals 190 Chapter Ten: Republic.com 212 Acknowledgments 225 Notes 227 Index 241

Cass R. Sunstein is the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama Administration and the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard University. He is the author of many books, including the New York Times best-seller Nudge (with Richard Thaler), Infotopia, Republic 2.0, Worst-Case Scenarios, Radicals in Robes, Why Societies Need Dissent, and Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech.

Praise for Republic.com: "Republic.com raises important and troubling questions about the effects of the Internet on a democratic society."--Stephen Labaton, New York Times Book Review "In this follow up to Republic.com, his first appraisal of technology's effect on public discourse, University of Chicago Law School professor Sunstein waxes pessimistic about today's 'nightmare' of limitless news and information options--and, more significantly, the limitless options for avoiding it...This perceptive volume effectively illuminates the contradictory impulses at the heart of the citizen-consumer."--Publishers Weekly "Republic.com 2.0 is a refreshing counter to overly optimistic perspectives on the internet and democracy, and Sunstein turns Utopian visions of the internet enabling individuals to gain access to exactly what they are interested in--?The Daily Me?--into a critical assessment of its potential for undermining democratic discourse."--William Dutton, Times Higher Education "[Sunstein] argues persuasively that the fragmented market for communications, which may cater to the desires of consumers, is harmful to the development of informed and moderate citizens because it limits or even makes impossible exposure to unsolicited, diverse, and occasionally unwelcome views, all of which are necessary in democracies...This book is a splendid antidote to the views of the utopian populists who equate democracy with information choice provided over the internet."--B. Cooper, Choice Praise for Republic.com: "Cass Sunstein sounds a timely warning in this concise, sophisticated account of the rise of the internet culture. He argues that it is our very ability to wrap ourselves in our own tastes, views, and prejudices with the aid of technology that constitutes a real threat to the traditional democratic values."--Peter Aspden, Financial Times "By its nature, Sunstein argues, the Web fragments us into ever-smaller niches. In this way, for all of its incredible,