Darknet
Speaking of politics, Adam C. Engst writes on Tidbits:
As someone who earns a living from the written word, I keep a close eye on all that’s happening in the copyright wars, that is, the ongoing skirmishes between the large companies that own the copyright on various types of media and the general populace who consume and use such media. I fundamentally disagree with the way these companies - known by some as the Content Cartel - conduct their business and treat their customers, but I’m far more worried by the ways in which they use their deep pockets to affect legislation such as the truly troubling Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). But as much as I’ve participated in innumerable online discussions in which theoretical situations showing the inanity of the current copyright regime are batted back and forth, I’ve never actually collected real-world stories in which copyright, the DMCA, and the tactics of the Content Cartel impinge upon the media-related activities of normal people, activities that meet the common sense standard of fair use.
Luckily for me, well-known blogger J.D. Lasica spent two years amassing those stories, and he’s woven them into a book, “Darknet: Hollywood’s War Against the Digital Generation.” Lasica does a fine job of explaining the DMCA and other efforts to clamp down on any use of media the Content Cartel doesn’t want to see, and I’d recommend that anyone who is unsure of the harm being done in those ways read the book for that reason. But what made it a compelling read for me were his stories of the real people who have run afoul of the copyright regime in various different ways.
Interesting indeed! Read the rest.
Now if only the cover were up to the content…:
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Posted by Giles, Friday, June 23, 2006, at 11:38 AM.
Posted to Book design | Freedoms and rights
