Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age
Cory Doctorow, McSweeney's, 192 pages, $22
Cory Doctorow, who has given away his creative and intellectual work on the Internet for many years, has now published a book with his rationale for doing so.
A longtime electronic rights activist, Doctorow reiterates and expands on themes in "Information" that he has been writing about for years. He sums them up in Doctorow's Three Laws (a playful bit of acknowledged homage to sci-fi predecessor Arthur C. Clarke):
• "Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and won't give you the key, that lock isn't there for your benefit."
• "Fame won't make you rich, but you can't get paid without it."
• "Information doesn't want to be free, people do."
Doctorow writes briskly and smartly, in short bursts. He is an excellent explainer. Consider his succinct summary of this year's hot topic: "At its heart, net neutrality is the idea that ISPs should deliver the bits we ask for as quickly as they can get them. ISPs, on the other hand, are petitioning for the right to give favorable treatment to some kinds of Internet data. For example, if YouTube bribes your ISP for 'fast lane' access to its customers, you'll have great, speedy access to YouTube — and all its competition will be jittery and sucky."
People who have followed these issues closely may not find much new in Doctorow's book. The rest of us will find it an excellent, sometimes sobering primer on copyright and creativity in the Internet age.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
