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In Esc & Ctrl: Stories About People Trying to Control the Internet, with searing interviews, unravelling mysteries and some great fun along the way, Jon Ronson is setting off on an adventure that may mean you'll never look at your mouse in the same way again.
2011
Jon Ronson starts looking into a man named Marc Pax, who posted a video on YouTube about experiencing homophobia when advocating gay rights. With it being discovered that this man was not actually Marc Pax. Jon Ronson tries to find out what are the true intentions behind this suspicious video. And it seems that there is a much bigger picture.
Wendell Potter speaks about a patient named Nataline Sarkisyan, who battled with Leukemia back in 2007 whilst CIGNA refused to provide a needed liver transplant.
Omar Gershon faked a video posted on YouTube, in which a man named Marc Pax claimed to experience homophobia when trying to join the Gaza Flotilla. Exploring Tel Aviv, Jon Ronson speaks with members of Latma Studios, the Jerusalem Post and the Israeli government, but it seems Omar Gershon's whereabouts is unknown by these.
Talking to the telecommunications company Vodafone, it appears that during the Arab Spring uprising, the government requested for the internet to be shut down.
Jon Ronson visits Patrice Wilson, a man who was responsible for the YouTube music hit 'Friday' by Rebecca Black. The video achieved over 200m views, and he believes he can do it again. Jon Ronson is treated to a track made by Patrice Wilson just for him.
Jon Ronson visits web analyst Tim Hwang (Web Ecology Project), who along with his colleagues has developed bots for the social media service Twitter. The bots generate random tweets in an experiment to see if they could steer the conversation amongst real human tweeters.
The spam bot was created by academics formerly at Warwick University. Jon Ronson discusses his frustration with the fact many of the tweets seem plausible, even though they are about things he would never talk about himself. With the creators of this account refusing to take it down, it seems the only way to resolve this is by meeting them.
Patrice Wilson was the mastermind behind the YouTube music hit 'Friday' by Rebecca Black. Jon Ronson is treated to a second track made by Patrice Wilson just for him. This time Jon Ronson decides to go ahead and shoot a music video with Patrice.
Jon Ronson arranges a meeting with the creators of the twitter spambot 'Jon_Ronson'. After some heated discussion and confusion in this interview, he discovers the academics' true agenda.
Jon Ronson meets with Frances Kelly, the founder of 'Carer watch', a forum for people who stay at home to look after relatives with disabilities. It got taken down indirectly by a company called Atos, employed by the UK government to monitor people claiming incapacity benefits.
Patrice Wilson had expressed some concerns about a previous episode of Escape and Control, in which he felt unfairly portrayed. Therefore he offered to record a new song with Jon Ronson, and shoot a music video. When asked to think of a topic which sparks passion, Jon Ronson came up with a concept... Tuesday.
With Jon Ronson's Escape and Control series coming to an end, it was time to make one more attempt at finding Omer Gershon, the actor who appeared in a YouTube video claiming to have experienced homophobia from the Free Gaza Movement. How did he get involved? Why did he make the video? These questions and more are addressed when Jon Ronson finds Omer Gershon in Tel Aviv.
Jon Ronson talks about creating the music video for the song 'Tuesday'. It features Patrice Wilson who was the creator of the YouTube music hit 'Friday' with Rebecca Black. Could Jon Ronson really take control of the internet with a new smash hit, or would it be a moment of embarrassment for the whole world to see? Jon Ronson has made his decision...
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Jon Ronson
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