Internet Empire: The Hidden Digital War

“This original book dissects the enormous power of the major US platforms, reviews the official actions or responses taken, notably in the US but elsewhere too, and also suggests what we as individuals and social groups can do about it.”

-Martin Cave (Visiting Professor, LSE)

“Stimulating and provocative, this book shows how companies operating on the internet have achieved and maintained their positions. The newness lies in the way it integrates facts from different domains to show the uniqueness of how the economics, state involvement and increasing oversight in these businesses has evolved. Essential reading to understand the digital economy.”

-Henri Piffaut (Vice President, French competition authority)

“Building on intuitive economic and historic explanations, the author delivers a sweeping, evidence-filled and remarkable book that shows how internet company market power has been achieved. The author advocates changes in government law, which are now well underway in the EU. Building on these legal changes, a greater field of individual choice is becoming possible for our citizens. This book takes us down a key path for our digital future, by identifying 15 specific actions we can all take to tame the power of the internet giants.”

-Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Member of European Parliament, rapporteur of Digital Markets Act)

“Has the American Empire simply moved online? That’s the argument made in an enjoyable polemic by Sean Ennis, Internet Empire: The Hidden Digital War. It’s a book with two strands. One about wars and empires through history: what motivates conflict, how empires grab territory when the economic advantages outweigh the costs of maintaining the colonies, why empires either collapse or survive.

This is braided with an account of how the US (and, thanks to protection of its domestic market, China) won near-global dominance of the internet and the money to be made from the internet for its own companies. Marvellous technology, an economic system favouring enterprise and investment, and active policy support from successive US governments have created the market-dominant players who shape modern life. "

-Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, Cambridge University, Enlightened Economist blog

"What a surprising book on the ways in which the empire building effort made by US internet companies is comparable to the traditional empire building normally achieved through wars, and what it all means for us on a day-to-day basis.

The book is surprising in many ways:

* I learned much more than I expected about the internet business, about some useful details on its technical and market characteristics (the stakeholders, the market shares, pricing and contractual approaches, negotiation margins, the exceptional ability to raise funds, …).

* I learned a lot about the role and limitations of national and supranational governments in managing the various stakeholders as well as about the differences in bargaining power and skills of different governments in their ability to manage opportunities and risks (current and future) when dealing with supranational concentrated markets.

* I also enjoyed learning how much, in many ways, the internet business expansion goals and strategies mimic those adopted during wars between countries and most importantly maybe, how much from the viewpoint of governments, this war mentality is a bit of “business-as-usual” for governments expected to engage in “winner takes all” approaches to the benefit of those they want to protect (their citizens, i.e. workers, investors and producers), at a cost to be paid by those outside of their protection mandate (OK, I am naïve but I could not really imagine some of the negotiations tricks were this outrageous).

* And finally, I learned about the detailed ways in which the regulators and competition agencies only have limited margin to do the right thing and about the many ways in which politics contributes to their ineffectiveness in the name of the national local and specific interests while ignoring the global public interests.

Thanks to the many historical insights on wars intended to show that business CEOs have a lot in common with military strategists when they take on their “enemy” and thanks to the tons of clearly explained technical dimensions that help understand the internet business, Sean Ennis manages to make the learning entertaining. You come out of this book a lot more knowledgeable than you would expect and a lot more aware of the margin you have to make choices to make sure that the internet business remains in the interest of all rather than a threat to too many.

My reading of Sean Ennis’s punchline is that internet has been good news in general but that its owners (and the government of their country of origin…) are not saints. Since governments have demonstrated their limitations in managing the internet empires, Ennis argues that it is up to users to fight back for our rights to privacy, to fair prices, to fair choices, and to reduce the many other risks that the current market structure is forcing us to internalize without alternatives.

Lots of food for thought with still enough margin not to agree with all of the diagnostics and suggestions made and to start thinking about other options to address the many issues raised. Easy to recommend."

-Antonio Estache, former professor, University Libre de Bruxelles and World Bank economist

 “The idea of comparing the 'Internet Empire' with historical case studies of physical empires through history is both innovative and intriguing. For me, the underlying theme of the book is that innovation is no longer at the discretion of the state (the Internet Empire) as it was in the cases of previous historical empires, but now falls within the remit of these digital firms with vast financial resources. For example, at one point in the last few years Apple had a stock market valuation which made it more valuable than the monetary size of the United Kingdom. Embedded within this are arguments relating to regulation and the potential difficulties of regulation huge companies with no borders, where successful regulatory control may be easier to achieve in countries with undemocratic regimes. Well written, surprising and powerful.”

-Ramesh Sangaralingham (Departmental Tutor, Oxford University)

“Sean Ennis expertly explains how the virtual expansion of US internet companies is no different to the efforts of empire building. With references to how previous empires were built and highlighting the incentives for the United States to favour this way to dominate foreign economic activity, this is an informative, thought provoking, well researched and important book that everyone should read.”

-NG Jones (Sounds About Right: Audiobooks to Help Us Understand the World)

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