Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access

Synopsis

"Once upon a time information was hard to get. Now it's astonishingly easy, whether it's a person's phone number, medical records, or research. But as a society we haven't reached a consensus on how to control - or even whether to control - all this accessible information. So a war is going on between private citizens and information-based businesses over who owns such valuable data as a person's name, photographic image, telephone number, shopping records, and medical records. Similar battles are raging over who owns the airwaves and computer-user interfaces, and one of the most vituperative information wars is going on among academics over who owns the words on the Dead Sea Scrolls." "In this engaging, sometimes poignant, often hilarious book, Anne Wells Branscomb elucidates such conflicts. With fascinating case studies ranging from Citizen Mog, who sued J. C. Penney for the use of his time in listening to telephone sales pitches, to "Captain Midnight," a satellite dish retailer who disrupted HBO's transmission as a protest against the cable company's scrambling its signals; from Lotus Development Corporation's going to court to outlaw clones of its spreadsheet software to the Anti-Defamation League's charging Prodigy with permitting hate messages to be transmitted via E-mail - the book shows how the law is lumbering along, trying to apply the old rules to a new game." "Having spent billions of dollars on the apparatus that makes it possible to access, manipulate, and store information, we need to invest in understanding the economics, law, and ethics of information, Branscomb writes. We need to develop a legal "infostructure" to support the burgeoning information marketplace." "What is the dividing line between public and private forums: face-to-face meetings only or cyberspace as well? What are the consequences for society of allowing information to be packaged and sold? Should all information be declared forever public? These are issues of crucial importance to a wide range of professionals, including lawyers, librarians, telecommunications experts, database managers, and journalists, as well as to private individuals." "As we enter the information age, the question "who owns information?" becomes more urgent and more timely than ever."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Copyright:

1994

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

236 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780465091751

Publisher:

Basic Books

Date of Addition:

03/12/09

Copyrighted By:

BasicBooks

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Kari G

Proofread By:

mary stephens

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.