The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris
The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris  
Podcast: The 404 Media Podcast
Published On: Mon May 18 2026
Description: This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Britt Paris. Britt is a critical informatics scholar and Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Her work focuses on Internet infrastructure, artificial intelligence-generated information objects, digital labor, civic data, and social epistemology. She’s also a fellow with AI Now. Her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up just came out in February.  Britt tells us about how her great-great-great uncle started a telecommunications cooperative in rural Missouri before the city even had connection, how examples like NEMR show us an alternative to monopolies that provide internet access and let people decide how they want their internet to work for them, and what’s giving her hope as she helps bargain for educators’ rights at Rutgers.  Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up The American Association of University Professors on AI University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop Community Votes to Deny Water to Nuclear Weapons Data Center YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/5twr0EUo2YE Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices