Shamans, software, and spleens : law and the construction of the information society / James Boyle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boyle, James, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellectual property.

Copyright--Moral rights.

Copyright.

Authors--Legal status, laws, etc.

Authors.

Information society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Shamans, Software and Spleens presents a look at the tricky problems posed by the information society. Boyle's book discusses topics ranging from blackmail and insider trading to artificial intelligence, microeconomics and cultural studies.

This text aims to present a timely look at the problems posed by the information society. Discussing topics ranging from blackmail and insider trading to artificial intelligence (with stops in microeconomics, intellectual property, and cultural studies along the way), James Boyle has produced a work on the social theory of the information age. It aims both to formulate a critical social theory of the information society and to galvanize opposition to pending proposals which would expand intellectual-property protection in the US and internationally.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1 The Information Society

2 Four Puzzles

3 The Public and Private Realms

4 Information Economics

5 Intellectual Property and the Liberal State

6 Copyright and the Invention of Authorship

7 Blackmail

8 Insider Trading and the Romantic Entrepreneur

9 Spleens

10 Stereotyping Information and Searching for an Author

11 The International Political Economy of Authorship

12 Private Censors, Transgenic Slavery, and Electronic Indenture

13 Proposals and Objections

Conclusion

Appendix A. An Afterword on Method

Appendix B. The Bellagio Declaration

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-259) and index.

ISBN:

9780674028630

0674028635

OCLC:

923117056