Law and Internet Cultures
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New Ed, 7/7/2005
EAN 9780521600484, ISBN10: 0521600480
Paperback, 252 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
This 2005 book raises the profile of socio-political questions about the global technology and information market. It is a close study of communication flows, networks, nodes, biopolitics and the fragmentations of power. It brings to life the role played by personalities, corporate interactions, industry compromises and the regulatory incompetencies, affecting the technological world we all live in. US technology powers the internet and disseminates American culture on an unprecedented scale. Assessing this power requires an analysis of the diffuse ways that US practice, policy and law dominates, and a consideration of how influence is negotiated and resisted locally. This involves a discussion about how ideas about trade and innovation circulate; of the social power of engineers that establish conventions and protocols; of the reach of Leviathan corporations; and questions about global marketing and consumer tastes. For readers interested in intellectual property law, information technology, cultural studies, globalisation and mass communications.
List of illustrations and tables
Acknowledgements
1. Defining internet law
2. Defining internet cultures
3. Universal standards and the end of the universe
the IETF, global governance and patents
4. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
5. In a world without fences who needs Gates?
6. Telling tales
digital piracy and the law
7. Participate/comply/resist
Notes
Bibliography
Index.
'It is a fascinating and enjoyable read, which has the hallmarks of a book which can be read in one sitting, although to write this risks undermining its scholarship and complexity, because it is a book which should be read closely, one which will reward return readings. ... a fascinating book. It is an important one also, because of the way it engages deeply with Internet law, and the ways in which law shapes, and is understood and used by, Internet communities.' Legal Studies