“Ecologia Digitale” with Francesco Cara e Matteo Spini

Digital is physical. This book explains how the digital revolution impacts on climate, environment, workers and society. A manifesto for sustainable digital.

Turn off your computer! The digital world is less green than it looks. If you do not know what a zettabyte is and what its ‘carbon footprint’ is, or if you are fed up with being ‘profiled’, this book is for you. Because it clearly explains that the cloud is not in the clouds but in data centres that consume energy and produce CO2 every time we send an email. Because it says in black and white that the dominance of Big Tech threatens not only the environment, but also workers’ rights, our privacy, the transparency of the market and elections. Because it denounces the ‘monetisation’ of our attention and time. Because it tells how ‘data’ has become the oil of our time and why it should be ‘common goods’ instead. Because it addresses the relationship between politics and the web and the possible role of e-democracy. Because it reaffirms – as Stefano Rodotà said – that an ‘Internet Bill of Rights’ is necessary. Because, last but not least, it makes it possible to learn about and practice a “critical consumption” of technology, to rebel – without being a hacker -, to design a low-impact web and to prevent e-waste: for a clean, open, regenerative digital world.

The perfect book for those who really want to understand what they are doing when they send an email, watch a video or use social media.