The Anarchist in the Library

This book is scaring me. More than "Double-Fold" even though this author doesn't quite employ the same alarmist passionate tone of Mr. Baker, the possible future scenarios described by Mr Vaidhyanathan are of greater concern to me. ( I can't actually tell if this author is male or female, but am going to refer to him as a he, simply because the term "wank-off" was used in a paragraph about internet porn, and us chics don't talk like that.) ;) The evidence presented by Mr Vaidhyanathan is also much more compelling.

I'm a little over halfway through, and want to note a few paragraphs of particular interest to me both in case they can be used in my book report later, or just as something I would like to discuss with my peers in the future...

Some of the assertions made be Mr Vaidahyanathan...

- Copyright Law truly impedes Free Speech. Example: the questions raised by "The Wind Done Gone," Alice Randall's retelling of Gone with the Wind. See page 84.
- The DMCA is written so broadly that it has applications beyond creative content. Examples: garage door openers, printer cartridges, car parts. See page 86
- Digital rights management technologies protect material already in the public domain and not subject to property law. Example: Celebrites can shut down websites of non-famous people who share their name. See page 89.
- US desires to protect copyright has a sinister impact in non-developed countries. Example: Violent raids on pirated CD/DVD markets in India. See Chapter 7.

When I first started this book, I was a little bored by the length discussions on the entertainment industry and peer to peer music sharing sites like Napster. I've heard the Napster case study analyzed over and over and thought this book was going to be more of the same. Now that I am in Chapter 7, I am hooked!