Overview
An indispensable primer for those who want to protect their digital rights from the dark forces of big media. --Kara Swisher, author of aol.com The first general interest book by a blogger edited collaboratively by his readers, Darknet reveals how Hollywooda s fear of digital piracy is leading to escalating clashes between copyright holders and their customers, who love their TiVo digital video recorders, iPod music players, digital televisions, computers, and other cutting--edge devices. Drawing on unprecedented access to entertainment insiders, technology innovators, and digital provocateurs--including some who play on both sides of the war between digital pirates and entertainment conglomerates--the book shows how entertainment companies are threatening the fundamental freedoms of the digital age.
Full Product Details
Author: J.D. Lasica
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 16.10cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.534kg
ISBN: 9780471683346
ISBN 10: 0471683345
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01 May 2005
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
An absorbing book...highly recommended. (Library Journal, May 1, 2005)
Sprawling account of the battle between corporations and creative individuals over what constitutes the proper use of digital media. Blog journalist Lasica (newmediamusings.com) could have pulled this up-to-the-minute story together with a flurry of phone calls and Web searches, but his reporting from the field gives it sweep and intimacy. The cast of characters is vibrant. Railing against DVD bootleggers, Hollywood lobbyist and ex-MPAA chairman Jack Valenti comes off as the ever-indignant guardian of media companies' right to every last penny. He's but one of the corporate flacks who sound shrilly evangelistic when describing the evils of digital camcorders, file-sharing networks and DVD burners. Lasica's skill at capturing personalities also benefits his recounting of visits with various professors, filmmakers, hippies, hackers, hobbyists and entrepreneurs who have run afoul of American copyright law in one way or another. The author contends that the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act criminalizes harmless behavior, citing law-abiding citizens who have been sued, threatened or fined for copying material for their own personal use. With deep pockets and aggressive lobbyists in Washington, Lasica says, Hollywood is trying to halt the kind of progress that allowed the photocopier, the VCR and the MP3 player into the marketplace. In the chapter Cool Toys Hollywood Wants to Ban, he describes the next generation of digital goodies that content companies will fight until they're absolutely certain they can profit from them. The cool quotient here suffers slightly from Lasica's tendency to reiterate over and over the same point-the digital age has transformed consumers into producers-in the breathless tone of a TV newsmagazine. His strength is presenting vivid snapshots of our rapidly changing cultural/technological landscape, not scrounging up metaphors for same. Frequently riveting, occasionally long-winded. Well worth your time, but read fast: it has the unwritten expiration date of a Wired article on tech trends. (Kirkus Reviews)
Author Information
J.D. LASICA has written articles for Legal Affairs, the Washington Post, Salon, and The Industry Standard, and he blogs at NewMediaMusings.com. Hea s also the founder of ourmedia.org, the global home for grassroots media. www.darknet.com
