How the Internet Really Works: An Illustrated Guide to Protocols, Privacy, Censorship, and Governance

An accessible, comic book-like, illustrated introduction to how the internet works under the hood, designed to give people a basic understanding of the technical aspects of the Internet that they need in order to advocate for digital rights.

The internet has profoundly changed interpersonal communication, but most of us don't really understand how it works. What enables information to travel across the internet? Can we really be anonymous and private online? Who controls the internet, and why is that important? And... what's with all the cats?

How the Internet Really Works answers these questions and more. Using clear language and whimsical illustrations, the authors translate highly technical topics into accessible, engaging prose that demystifies the world's most intricately linked computer network. Alongside a feline guide named Catnip, you'll learn about:

- The "How-What-Why" of nodes, packets, and internet protocols
- Cryptographic techniques to ensure the secrecy and integrity of your data
- Censorship, ways to monitor it, and means for circumventing it
- Cybernetics, algorithms, and how computers make decisions
- Centralization of internet power, its impact on democracy, and how it hurts human rights
- Internet governance, and ways to get involved

This book is also a call to action, laying out a roadmap for using your newfound knowledge to influence the evolution of digitally inclusive, rights-respecting internet laws and policies.

Whether you're a citizen concerned about staying safe online, a civil servant seeking to address censorship, an advocate addressing worldwide freedom of expression issues, or simply someone with a cat-like curiosity about network infrastructure, you will be delighted -- and enlightened -- by Catnip's felicitously fun guide to understanding how the internet really works

一本有趣的漫畫式插圖書，介紹互聯網的運作原理，旨在讓人們對互聯網的技術方面有基本的理解，以便為數字權利發聲。

互聯網深刻地改變了人際溝通，但我們大多數人並不真正了解它的運作方式。是什麼使信息能夠在互聯網上傳播？我們在線上真的能夠匿名和保護隱私嗎？誰控制著互聯網，為什麼這很重要？還有...為什麼到處都是貓？

《互聯網的真實運作方式》回答了這些問題以及更多。作者們用清晰的語言和幽默的插圖，將高度技術性的主題轉化為易於理解、引人入勝的散文，揭開了這個世界上最複雜連接的計算機網絡的神秘面紗。在一只名叫Catnip的貓咪指導下，你將學到以下內容：

- 节点、数据包和互联网协议的“如何-什么-为什么”
- 保護數據機密性和完整性的加密技術
- 審查制度、監控方法和規避方法
- 控制論、算法以及計算機如何做出決策
- 互聯網權力的集中化，對民主的影響以及對人權的傷害
- 互聯網治理以及參與其中的方法

這本書也是一個行動號召，提供了一個路線圖，讓你利用新獲得的知識來影響數字包容、尊重權利的互聯網法律和政策的發展。

無論你是一個關心在線安全的公民，一個希望解決審查制度的公務員，一個關注全球言論自由問題的倡導者，還是一個對網絡基礎設施有貓一般好奇心的人，你都會被Catnip愉快而有趣的指南所啟發和啟迪，了解互聯網的真實運作方式。

ARTICLE 19 is an international non-profit organization that seeks to promote, develop, and protect freedom of expression, including access to information. Headquartered in London, with offices in Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Mexico, Senegal, Tunisia, Myanmar, and the USA, ARTICLE 19 works to bridge the knowledge gap about Internet infrastructure and why it matters for people.

ARTICLE 19是一個國際非營利組織，致力於促進、發展和保護言論自由，包括資訊取得的權利。總部位於倫敦，並在孟加拉國、巴西、肯亞、墨西哥、塞內加爾、突尼斯、緬甸和美國設有辦事處。ARTICLE 19致力於填補關於互聯網基礎設施的知識差距，並解釋為何這對人們很重要。