This book was truly a journey, and many people helped me on my way.
First, I would like to thank all of the people I interviewed: Andy Müller Maguhn, Peter from Sweden, Andrew Clement, Lucy Suchman, Christian Heck, Harry Halpin, Sacha van Geffen, Cindy Cohn, Corrado Primier, Matteo Ruina, Gianluca Gilardi, Andreas Ghirardini, Matteo Flora, Simona Levi, Rubén Sáez, Maddalena Falzoni, Alfa Sanchez, Sergio Salgado, Danilo Toninelli, Riccardo Fraccaro, John Richardson, Samer Hassan, and Yochai Benkler. Meeting each of you and learning about your contributions to the contemporary democratic struggle was like stepping onto new land. “O brave new world, That has such people in’t,” enthuses Miranda in act 5 of Shakespeare’s Tempest. I feel the same way.
Warm thanks to the many other wonderful people I spoke with who gave me important leads, insights, and introductions: Wolfgang Kaleck, Gabriella Coleman, Guillaume Rochefort, Amir Attaran, Holger Krekel, Markus Beckedahl, Irina Bolyshevski, Sean O’Brien, Paul Allen (of Toronto), Kate Milberry, Andrea Neuman, the Fellows and librarians at the American Academy in Rome, Peter Benson Miller, director at the American Academy, and Ilaria Loquenzi, to name a few. Thanks to Silvia Virgulti for translation at the Cinque Stelle offices.
There are people I did not interview but whose work I cover in the book at some length because of its power in the genealogy of hacker ideas. Thank you to Larry Lessig for his exposition of the insight that code is law, Eben Moglen for his affecting oratory, John Clippinger for his thoughts on a digital common law, John Perry Barlow for his poetic intuition, and Richard Stallman, for his vision in starting the free software movement.
I must thank Richard Stallman, too, for his generosity in reading this book’s manuscript. His patience in offering information and clarifications was critical to improving the final text.
Special thanks for the altruism of other people who read and vetted parts of the manuscript: to the anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments helped me to articulate the intent of the book and to recalibrate when I went astray in the vast geography of disciplines I was foolhardy enough to traverse; to the interviewees who reviewed their chapters, several of whom painstakingly explained technical matters so that I could write about them intelligently; and to David Weinberger (Senior Researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center), Patrick Henry Winston (Ford Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science at MIT), Ellen Hoffman (Director of Communications at the MIT Media Lab), and Janine Liberty, Chia Evers and Joi Ito at MIT Media Lab for their fact-checking and comments on chapter twelve. In May 2019, as this book was going into copyediting, I had the opportunity to interview Joi Ito, then Director of the MIT Media Lab, by telephone and would like to thank him for his time and graciousness.
Harry Halpin was like a Hermes to me, appearing as a magical guide at the Chaos Communication Camp and reappearing months later to point out the continuation of the path; he did not let me down despite his heavy travel schedule. Andrew Clement, my fellow Canadian, set me straight on a lot of technical and tonal matters. And it was lovely to start the book in a friendly place, with the warmth of his and Lucy Suchman’s hospitality in the Gulf Islands. Andy Müller Maguhn and Christian Heck were also generous with their time and technical advice, Christian taking time away from his own family to help. Thank you to Simona Levi, Sergio Salgado, and the other members of XNet for eloquently describing the social implications of hacking. Any errors or misconceptions lingering in the text are my own.
I would like to thank Heidi Boghosian and Peter Prontzos, who each gave me great support and encouragement in the early stages of this project—Heidi, in New York, for reading and commenting generously on outlines and draft chapters, and traveling to Germany despite her fear of flying; Peter, in Vancouver, for his articles as well as for his love and hugs. Thanks to Greg Ruggiero for suggesting a book about hackers.
I owe the largest debt of gratitude to two women without whom this book would not have happened. Gita Devi Manaktala, the MIT Press’s editorial director, picked up the proposal for the book within days of receiving it, when only a handful of chapters had been drafted, and she did not waver in her support of it. In a world that is hurtling along at high speed these days, it was a brave choice. She knew much could change between the time of writing and the time of publication, and yet the topic urgently needed to be covered. Her advice, assistance, and sheer goodness over the course of this project have been a boon to me. Jackie Kaiser, president of Westwood Creative Artists and the other person without whom this book would not have happened, picked me up as a writer and gave me help and attention I will always be grateful for. Working at the top of the book industry for many years she is an alchemical miracle of business acumen and book love, professionalism and heart. Always taking account of my circumstances, she was there at each turn to smooth the way and allow me to write. I have been lucky to have her as my agent.
Thank you to Tessa McWatt for her generous introduction to Jackie. Thanks to Liz Culotti, Pia Singhal and the other staff at Westwood Creative Artists. Thank you to Alex Shultz, a consummate editor. It was a pleasure and privilege to work with you and a comfort to rely on your good taste and unerring judgment.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the MIT Press are institutions that are woven like gold thread throughout the fabric of this book’s story. Their part in the genealogy of innovation and civic acts I describe reminds one of the importance of public institutions. I would like to acknowledge the MIT Press’s institutional support of me as an author and also that of the American Academy in Rome and the Canada Council for the Arts. The latter gave me a grant at a crucial point to travel down to Boston and Cambridge and write about what was happening there. Thanks to all the staff at the MIT Press, including the ever patient and positive Nhora Lucia Serrano (thanks, Nhora), Kyle Gipson, and those I worked with in the production and marketing process. Deborah Cantor-Adams and Rosemary Winfield were responsible for the final copyediting and fine polishing of the manuscript, a task they executed deftly and with amazing speed. Susan Clark wrote wonderful copy for the catalog.
Writer friends—Monia Mazigh, Rick Salutin, Mark Danner, and Stephanie Young—thank you for your camaraderie and influence. And thank you to friends Professor Mary Chapman for her discerning advice offered generously over so many years and her network intelligence, Gail Davidson (for her example), Tom Sandborn (for his example), Lori Kozub Hodgkinson (for her tips on audio books) and Jose Rodrigues (for his insights into the political complexity of the Catalan independence movement).
Thank you to my dear family, Connie Webb, and Michael and Joanne Webb, who have always been there for me. And thank you to my brothers and sisters in the labor movement, and at the Hospital Employees’ Union in particular. This struggle to recover our dignity as citizens has many links with the struggle for dignity in work.
To my children: You have put up with the extra burden of this book’s writing for four years with sterling kindness. Thank you for that. I know it has not always been easy. Michele, my sweet son, you gave me insights on memes and fake news that I had not heard elsewhere. You are the digital native and philosopher of the family. Lucia, my light, thank you for taking an interest, now you are grown, in what I’ve been writing. There could be no better reward for the effort, especially as I watch you begin to formulate your own ideas about the world.
Reader, thank you. As we go forward, let us make it a sweet habit of solidarity to call each other citizen.