CONTENT: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright and the Future of the Future
By Cory Doctorow, doctorow@craphound.com
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A word about this downloadable file:
I’ve been releasing my books online for free since my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, came out in 2003, and with every one of those books, I’ve included a little essay explaining why I do this sort of thing.
I was tempted to write another one of these essays for this collection, but then it hit me: this is a collection of essays that are largely concerned with exactly this subject.
You see, I don’t just write essays about copyright to serve as forewards to my books: I write them for magazine’s, newspapers, and websites — I write speeches on the subject for audiences of every description and in every nation. And finally, here, I’ve collected my favorites, the closest I’ve ever come to a Comprehensive Doctorow Manifesto.
So I’m going to skip the foreword this time around: the whole book is my explanation for why I’m giving it away for free online.
If you like this book and you want to thank me, here’s what I’d ask you to do, in order of preference:
* Buy a copy: http://craphound.com/content/buy
* Donate a copy to a school or library: http://craphound.com/content/donate
* Send the ebook to five friends and tell them why you liked it
* Convert the ebook to a new file-format (see the download page for more)
Now, on to the book!
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Copyright notice:
This entire work (with the exception of the introduction by John Perry Barlow) is copyright 2008 by Cory Doctorow and released under the terms of a Creative Commons US Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/). Some Rights Reserved.
The introduction is copyright 2008 by John Perry Barlow and released under the terms of a Creative Commons US Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/). Some Rights Reserved.
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Publication history and acknowledgments:
Introduction: 2008, John Perry Barlow
Microsoft Research DRM Talk (This talk was originally given to Microsoft’s Research Group and other interested parties from within the company at their Redmond offices on June 17, 2004.)
The DRM Sausage Factory (Originally published as “A Behind-The-Scenes Look At How DRM Becomes Law,” InformationWeek, July 11, 2007)
Happy Meal Toys versus Copyright: How America chose Hollywood and Wal-Mart, and why it’s doomed us, and how we might survive anyway (Originally published as “How Hollywood, Congress, And DRM Are Beating Up The American Economy,” InformationWeek, June 11, 2007)
Why Is Hollywood Making A Sequel To The Napster Wars? (Originally published in InformationWeek, August 14, 2007)
You DO Like Reading Off a Computer Screen (Originally published in Locus Magazine, March 2007)
How Do You Protect Artists? (Originally published in The Guardian as “Online censorship hurts us all,” Tuesday, Oct 2, 2007)
It’s the Information Economy, Stupid (Originally published in The Guardian as “Free data sharing is here to stay,” September 18, 2007)
Downloads Give Amazon Jungle Fever (Originally published in The Guardian, December 11, 2007)
What’s the Most Important Right Creators Have? (Originally published as “How Big Media’s Copyright Campaigns Threaten Internet Free Expression,” InformationWeek, November 5, 2007)
Giving it Away (Originally published on Forbes.com, December 2006)
Science Fiction is the Only Literature People Care Enough About to Steal on the Internet (Originally published in Locus Magazine, July 2006)
How Copyright Broke (Originally published in Locus Magazine, September, 2006)
In Praise of Fanfic (Originally published in Locus Magazine, May 2007)
Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia (Self-published, 26 August 2001)
Amish for QWERTY (Originally published on the O’Reilly Network, 07/09/2003, http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2003/07/09/amish[underscore]qwerty.html)
Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books (Paper for the O’Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference, San Diego, February 12, 2004)
Free(konomic) E-books (Originally published in Locus Magazine, September 2007)
The Progressive Apocalypse and Other Futurismic Delights (Originally published in Locus Magazine, July 2007)
When the Singularity is More Than a Literary Device: An Interview with Futurist-Inventor Ray Kurzweil (Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 2005)
Wikipedia: a genuine Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy — minus the editors (Originally published in The Anthology at the End of the Universe, April 2005)
Warhol is Turning in His Grave (Originally published in The Guardian, November 13, 2007)
The Future of Ignoring Things (Originally published on InformationWeek’s Internet Evolution, October 3, 2007)
Facebook’s Faceplant (Originally published as “How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook,” in InformationWeek, November 26, 2007)
The Future of Internet Immune Systems (Originally published on InformationWeek’s Internet Evolution, November 19, 2007)
All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites (Paper delivered at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, San Diego, California, 16 March 2005)
READ CAREFULLY (Originally published as “Shrinkwrap Licenses: An Epidemic Of Lawsuits Waiting To Happen” in InformationWeek, February 3, 2007)
World of Democracycraft (Originally published as “Why Online Games Are Dictatorships,” InformationWeek, April 16, 2007)
Snitchtown (Originally published in Forbes.com, June 2007)
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Dedication:
For the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation: John Perry Barlow, Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore
For the staff — past and present — of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
For the supporters of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Table of Contents:
1 Introduction by John Perry Barlow
2 Microsoft Research DRM talk
3 The DRM Sausage Factory
4 Happy Meal Toys versus Copyright: How America chose Hollywood and
Wal-Mart, and why it’s doomed us, and how we might survive anyway
5 Why Is Hollywood Making A Sequel To The Napster Wars?
6 You DO Like Reading Off a Computer Screen
7 How Do You Protect Artists?
8 It’s the Information Economy, Stupid
9 Downloads Give Amazon Jungle Fever
10 What’s the Most Important Right Creators Have?
11 Giving it Away
12 Science Fiction is the Only Literature People Care Enough About to Steal on the Internet
13 How Copyright Broke
14 In Praise of Fanfic
15 Metacrap: Putting the Torch to Seven Straw-Men of the Meta-Utopia
16 Amish for QWERTY
17 Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books
18 Free(konomic) E-books
19 The Progressive Apocalypse and Other Futurismic Delights
20 When the Singularity is More Than a Literary Device: An Interview with Futurist-Inventor Ray Kurzweil
21 Wikipedia: a genuine Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy — minus the editors
22 Warhol is Turning in His Grave
23 The Future of Ignoring Things
24 Facebook’s Faceplant
25 The Future of Internet Immune Systems
26 All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites
27 READ CAREFULLY
28 World of Democracycraft
29 Snitchtown
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