You might think that prior to the 20th century, "piracy" only referred to nautical shenanigans. But English stationers in the 17th century labelled colleagues who printed unauthorised versions of other people's work "land-pirats".
Adrian Johns's weighty history fills the years since with quotable anecdotes and lively portraits of wily information thieves who copied everything from telephone network codes to an entire electronics company.
[Snip]
Now, Johns sees Google's move to digitise the world's books and the growing open access movement in science publishing as hints that we are on the brink of an intellectual-property revolution. Plus ça change.
From the University of Chicago Press Catalog Entry:
Brimming with broader implications for today’s debates over open access, fair use, free culture, and the like, Johns’s book ultimately argues that piracy has always stood at the center of our attempts to reconcile creativity and commerce—and that piracy has been an engine of social, technological, and intellectual innovations as often as it has been their adversary.
The FreePint Family is a family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success.
'FreePint... provides most of my professional development because it won't come through work and [other resources] just don't cut it.'
FUMSI Forum: Do you have a research question? Post it to the FUMSI Forum, where professionals share Q&A and useful tips on how to Find, Use, Manage and Share Information. It's free.
FreePint Shop:
VIP LiveWire:
