Five Great Books on Copyright, Culture, and the Internet

It is beyond doubt that the Internet has completely changed the world of publishing. Books, music, animation, and art of all kinds is being created and distributed online in vast quantities each day. This explosion of virtual culture has upset copyright laws around the world. The extensive regulations, originally designed to protect artists and art-lovers alike, have often become a hindrance to the fullness of expression and sharing that the internet offers.

In the past ten to twenty years, many great minds have converged around reconciling the opposition between the seemingly opposing forces of copyright and internet distribution. Authors like Neil Gaiman and Cory Doctorow, as well as scholars like Richard Stallman, Lawrence Lessig and William Patry, have all weighed in on this issue. The number of books written on this topic is astronomical, so today we'd like to offer you five of the very best books on the nature of copyright in the digital age.


1. Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig

There isn't much to be to be said about Free Culture. It is one of the seminal works on this topic, and a must-read if you're interested in the way copyright interacts with technology. It would be easy to compile a list of books on this topic by Lessig alone, but Free Culture is the most well-known and certainly one of the most thought-provoking that this Harvard and Stanford professor of Law has written on the subject.






2. Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars by William Patry

This book, which comes highly recommended from Cory Doctorow himself, provides a very helpful, coherent summary of the long history of the battle for copyright in the US. Patry's treatment of this history, in Doctorow's words, "... is like watching a master brick layer gracefully and effortlessly build a solid wall: no wasted motion, no sweat, no missteps. Patry knows this subject better than anyone and can really explain it."

A good reason to read this book is to grasp an understanding of the moral and ethical issues surrounding copyright, and how these concerns interact with the legalities.


3. The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship by John Willinsky

This one is especially for all the students and teachers reading this. In The Access Principle, John Willinsky takes to task the inherent problems with restricting access to scholarly research. He argues that research in all fields should be accessible to all, so that valuable information can be spread more easily outside the old academic structures.

His argument is a tad controversial, as it puts in danger the time-tested academic practices for publishing findings, but that's what makes the work so interesting. In the future, we may look back and be surprised that access was ever anything but completely open.

4. Shamans, Software and Spleens : Law and the Construction of the Information Society by James Boyle

Boyle is another giant in this debate, and his work is extremely well-respected. Besides the fantastic title, this book is excellent because it expands the debate beyond just publishing. Boyle shows that the way we construct the laws of our new connected society can effect everything from software distribution to organ donation.

5. Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity by Siva Vaidhyanathan

Like Patry's book does, Vaidhyanathan explores the entire history of copyright, reaching back well before the Internet ever became an issue. His comprehensive approach is captivating as the reader watches the development of this debate right up through the present day. The book also includes, as the title suggests, some intriguing commentary on how creativity can be restricted by copyright law.

Each of these books is excellent on its own, but taken together the list provides one of the best and quickest ways to get caught up with this ongoing debate. If you're hungering for more, I suggest you check out Tarleton Gillespie's fantastic Amazon list on Copyright, Technology, and Digital Culture, which includes some of the books mentioned above as well as quite a few more. Do you have favorite books about this topic? If so, please let us know about it in the comments! We'd love to do a follow-up post with some reader-selected favorites.