Galloway’s Protocol argues that digital networks do not abolish control; they transform it. Against the common belief that the internet is inherently free, chaotic or radically decentralised, Galloway shows that networked power operates through protocol, the technical standards and rules that organise communication between machines. Protocol is not simply a neutral engineering device; it is a political architecture that determines what can connect, how information circulates and where authority is embedded. The book’s central proposition is that control after decentralisation no longer depends primarily on visible sovereign command or disciplinary enclosure, but on distributed systems that regulate behaviour through code, standards and interoperability. TCP/IP exemplifies horizontal distribution, allowing computers to communicate across a peer-to-peer network, while DNS introduces hierarchy by translating domain names into addresses through a controlled naming structure. This tension between openness and command is the key to protocological power. Galloway’s case study of the internet therefore reveals a broader cultural logic: contemporary control functions by enabling participation while simultaneously structuring its conditions. The network is not outside power; it is one of power’s most advanced forms. Yet protocol also contains possibilities for resistance, since hacking, tactical media and internet art can exploit, redirect or expose the rules that govern digital systems. Galloway’s conclusion is that understanding power today requires reading code, infrastructure and standards as political forms.