Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Neo-Luddites versus Technophiles -- The origins of Luddism -- Technophilia -- Critical realism about technology -- Surveying the issues -- 2. The radically new and the merely novel: how transformative is the Internet? -- The nature of the Internet -- The radically new and the merely novel -- Social transformation: using the Marxist model -- Television as a test case -- Will the Internet transform? -- 3. The Faustian bargain: assessing the value of technology -- Faust -- Technology as the servant of desire -- The constitution of the problematic -- Means and ends -- Cost-benefit analysis -- The useful and the valuable -- Moral freedom and political neutrality -- 4. The Internet as democracy -- Direct versus representative democracy -- The advantages of e-mail and the power of the web page -- The value of democracy -- Power to the people? -- The Internet and the deficiencies of democracy -- 5. The Internet as anarchy -- Positive and negative anarchy -- The internationalism and populism of the Internet -- Knowledge and 'information' -- Knowledge as power -- Freedom and reason -- Moral anarchy and the Internet -- 6. Policing the Internet -- Pornography and harm -- Licensing and labelling -- The morality of pornography -- Pornography and legality -- 7. New communities -- Individuals, communities and interest groups -- Liberalism versus communitarianism -- The potential for electronic 'communities' -- MUDS, MOOS and GeoCities -- 8. Virtual reality: the future of cyberspace -- The 'bodynet' and the 'smartroom' -- The 'virtual' and the 'real thing' -- 'Virtual' as a kind of reality -- 'Virtual' achievements -- The poverty of cyberspace -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.