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Pirateria. Storia della proprietà intellettuale da Gutenberg a Google
Tempo di pirati globali, il nostro. Hanno i tratti ipertecnologici degli hackers che trovano un varco in bastioni informatici, o l’aspetto proteiforme dei contraffattori su scala planetaria. Però dietro il loro sfuggente anonimato, la loro incerta identità politica e la loro destrezza clandestina preme un albero genealogico antico e gremito di fuorilegge a viso i briganti contemporanei vi compaiono solo come gli ultimi discendenti della variopinta torma che per secoli ha battuto l’Occidente dalle due sponde dell’oceano. Mancava finora un genealogista che avesse il talento di Adrian Johns nello scovare quei nomi dimenticati di editori, scienziati, industriali, ridando corpo e parola ai protagonisti di una guerra di corsa che fin dall’inizio ha toccato i presupposti della civiltà quale noi la intendiamo, e che si combatte ancora con esiti apertissimi. Infatti nelle tipografie in cui si ristampavano illegalmente i libri o nelle fabbriche che mettevano indebitamente a profitto invenzioni brevettate sono state in gioco le idee di creatività, trasmissione, autenticità, plagio. Le nozioni stesse di diritto d’autore e di proprietà intellettuale hanno conosciuto un lungo travaglio. Johns ha anche il merito, davvero raro in chi affronta una materia così incandescente, di farci riconoscere sempre– senza tesi preconcette e nel rispetto delle circostanze storiche – le ragioni che oppongono gli incursori e i protezionisti, coloro che inneggiano alla libera circolazione dei prodotti dell’ingegno e coloro che giudicano i regimi proprietari di tutela gli unici compatibili con l’etica pubblica e lo sviluppo sociale. E di mostrarci il ruolo propulsivo che la pirateria ha talora svolto. Ne uscirà arricchito il nostro lessico della legalità, e se verremo a sapere di plateali violazioni del copyright che protegge opere letterarie e musicali o di dispute su brevetti di farmaci e sementi, ci renderemo conto che lì la partita non riguarda soltanto malfattori e danneggiati, ma è di gran lunga più abissale e avventurosa, perché coinvolge i diritti di tutti.
717 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
49 people are currently reading
1006 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Johns
14 books18 followersAdrian Johns is a professor of history at the University of Chicago. Educated at Cambridge University, Johns is a specialist on intellectual property and piracy.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 6, 2012
Although this is a lengthy look at both the legal and historical aspects of piracy in our current age, this is an excellent way to put our day’s current piracy issues in their appropriate historical context. Johns takes the current issues and problems of piracy and copyright and demonstrates that in fact this problem is centuries old. Through examining intellectual property as it relates to print throughout the last three hundred years, the author raises interesting questions about how to address the problems of piracy today.
This book is clearly well researched, with a painstaking eye to documenting every relevant detail of history and current events. At times this is overwhelming, but it is to be expected in a 600 (plus) page book. But what really brought the subject matter alive for me, and kept me interested despite the legal complexities, was the vivid and approachable style of the text. Although there are a lot of details to take in, what I’ve explore of the text brilliantly incorporates history with the present, through relevant fact and anecdotes, to create an informative yet interesting read.
This book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to better understand intellectual policy and how the concept has developed throughout history, and it raises questions we each must address in our increasingly digital world.
This book is clearly well researched, with a painstaking eye to documenting every relevant detail of history and current events. At times this is overwhelming, but it is to be expected in a 600 (plus) page book. But what really brought the subject matter alive for me, and kept me interested despite the legal complexities, was the vivid and approachable style of the text. Although there are a lot of details to take in, what I’ve explore of the text brilliantly incorporates history with the present, through relevant fact and anecdotes, to create an informative yet interesting read.
This book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to better understand intellectual policy and how the concept has developed throughout history, and it raises questions we each must address in our increasingly digital world.
February 28, 2012
This is a richly detailed history of the concept of intellectual property (mainly copyright and patents) as told from the perspective of its alleged infringement. The author argues persuasively that our current modern notions of intellectual property are ideological stances of certain players in the creative industries. Most provocatively, he demonstrates that while accusations of piracy have flown fast and furious between those who have distributed the arts and sciences from early modernity on, various forms of piracy (from reprinting to oscillation to open source) played a greater role in "promoting progress" than these protections.
Johns is very conscious of writing at a moment when the IP wars are raging once again (e.g. the recent kerfuffle over SOPA and PIPA and ongoing confrontations over the Google Book Settlement and pharma generics), and appears to suggest that a historical perspective will enable a more balanced view of what we should do with our current IP regimes. In fact, what he seems to be suggesting is that our current notions of IP rights are both recent (industrial era) and already quaint, and history offers many alternative models.
It's a fascinating book, introducing a much-needed historical perspective against the usual myopic proclamations of the digerati. Unfortunately, it is a very thick read. 520 pages, written in a dense style that presumes a high level of incoming cultural literacy. Really a shame, given how much the book has to offer. I was excited to read this book, and even I found it a tough passage much of the time. But I will keep it handy as a reference work whenever I need to situate current IP debates in their historical predecessors.
Johns is very conscious of writing at a moment when the IP wars are raging once again (e.g. the recent kerfuffle over SOPA and PIPA and ongoing confrontations over the Google Book Settlement and pharma generics), and appears to suggest that a historical perspective will enable a more balanced view of what we should do with our current IP regimes. In fact, what he seems to be suggesting is that our current notions of IP rights are both recent (industrial era) and already quaint, and history offers many alternative models.
It's a fascinating book, introducing a much-needed historical perspective against the usual myopic proclamations of the digerati. Unfortunately, it is a very thick read. 520 pages, written in a dense style that presumes a high level of incoming cultural literacy. Really a shame, given how much the book has to offer. I was excited to read this book, and even I found it a tough passage much of the time. But I will keep it handy as a reference work whenever I need to situate current IP debates in their historical predecessors.
September 6, 2010
Dry as dust but extremely informative and leaves the reader with a solid historical foundation of Piracy. A little conservative but when deal with Piracy I'm inclined to agree. Worth your time...but like all University of Chicago texts this one will test your commitment to the process.
Highly recommended for the committed reader and amateur historians.
Highly recommended for the committed reader and amateur historians.
February 21, 2013
Another huge book with a vast scope that ultimately left me wanting (see Steve Jobs biography).
Those interested in the history of IP laws and guild/government control over production streams, dating back to Gutenberg, will have much to enjoy here. Many interesting tales of how laws and rules are used as tools for amassing wealth and preventing competition.
It's also quite stuffy and overly academic. The author's narrative is often inexplicably difficult to follow. It's a lot of work for concepts that aren't really all that deep.
Ironically, as an academic narrative, it's long on historical anecdotes, but short on meaningful critical theory. Those wishing to dive into the deeper moral questions of the modern world, and the wealth of interesting viewpoints emerging in the realm of wired technology, will ultimately be left wanting.
All in all an interesting and enlightening history book, if you can stand the dry tone.
PS: I was given this book by my niece, who doesn't know me all that well, but totally nailed it with this one. One of the loveliest surprise Christmas gifts I've ever received.
Those interested in the history of IP laws and guild/government control over production streams, dating back to Gutenberg, will have much to enjoy here. Many interesting tales of how laws and rules are used as tools for amassing wealth and preventing competition.
It's also quite stuffy and overly academic. The author's narrative is often inexplicably difficult to follow. It's a lot of work for concepts that aren't really all that deep.
Ironically, as an academic narrative, it's long on historical anecdotes, but short on meaningful critical theory. Those wishing to dive into the deeper moral questions of the modern world, and the wealth of interesting viewpoints emerging in the realm of wired technology, will ultimately be left wanting.
All in all an interesting and enlightening history book, if you can stand the dry tone.
PS: I was given this book by my niece, who doesn't know me all that well, but totally nailed it with this one. One of the loveliest surprise Christmas gifts I've ever received.
unfinished
June 8, 2025DNFd a few chapters in because it's dry and academic as hell and currently I don't care for the details beyond 'piracy discourse is hella old'
December 11, 2013
Where to begin articulating my thoughts about this book, first, I had to keep asking myself why did I pick up this book to read in the first place? I only finished this book out of shear stubbornness to not have a book left unread. My general interest in this book began with the purpose of understanding how we came to have the current copyright regime we have. It seems like an innocent enough point of reference, and this book seemed like an innocent enough place to seek out that "history." However, this book, like my stubbornness, is unrelenting.
When the "history" portion began to get interesting, and my fascination lead me to actually take interest in what I was reading, the author would quickly bog down into details that would leave me lost. I would wonder why am I reading about this minutia and how is this relevant to where the chapter began. Usually it at this very point that I think readers will put down the book and walk away from it in order to get a breather and process what the author has conveyed. However, if you're like me when it came to this book, usually it was at this very point where I would "walk away" for long periods of time. When you add up all those long periods they come out to some two years of reading this one book. Mr. Johns is no R.R. Martin, writing his heart out too leave the reader wanting more Red Weddings even when their heart screams "no!" Mr. Johns is the very essence of scholarly authorship, detailed oriented and focused on the copious angles that create a concrete point he is trying to convey, he leaves no portion of historical understanding uncovered. If there are authors that write a three hundred sixty degree perspective, Mr. Johns surely works for nothing short of seven hundred twenty degrees of coverage. No rock is unturned in this tome of a book on intellectual property.
Don't get me wrong, when he discusses the historical development of intellectual property, the book takes on new meaning. I found myself fascinated when I understood the connections made by Mr. Johns. Like a mouse is followed his bread crumb trail to that "Ahaa!" moment, only, if I were a mouse sent on a reconnaissance mission and were to go back and lead a party of mice to that "Ahaa!" moment, I would surely be that sort of noob that lead my team of mice into a mouse trap and ultimately to death. I grasped at the wisp of knowledge and just like that moving forward in the book, I lost that understanding. Granted if you are used to reading law books this book will seem like a walk in the park, however, I was that one law student that turned to the briefs for my in class assigned readings, and if there is a sparks notes version of Mr. Johns work, I would jump at the opportunity to read it.
Of coarse, I want to be fair to Mr. Johns. This is a work of passion and it truly comes across as such. I have never before read any other works by Mr. Johns, therefore, i can not compare this piece to his previous work. However, this piece will stand alone in my library of academic works read, Mr. Johns will not take up further space in my virtual library, even if the Electronic Frontier Foundation extols the virtue of another work of his as being essential reading, I will certainly not hold myself accountable for making sure I educate myself, but rather will wait for other people to point out the essentials too me.
the one book i am going to finish this year, the one book I have to finish before the beginning of 2014, is Piracy: the history of intellectual property. No other book besides the The Brothers Karamazov has been as tedious and insipidly cumbersome to read as Piracy, at least for me. Shear stubbornness will get me through this two year ordeal.
When the "history" portion began to get interesting, and my fascination lead me to actually take interest in what I was reading, the author would quickly bog down into details that would leave me lost. I would wonder why am I reading about this minutia and how is this relevant to where the chapter began. Usually it at this very point that I think readers will put down the book and walk away from it in order to get a breather and process what the author has conveyed. However, if you're like me when it came to this book, usually it was at this very point where I would "walk away" for long periods of time. When you add up all those long periods they come out to some two years of reading this one book. Mr. Johns is no R.R. Martin, writing his heart out too leave the reader wanting more Red Weddings even when their heart screams "no!" Mr. Johns is the very essence of scholarly authorship, detailed oriented and focused on the copious angles that create a concrete point he is trying to convey, he leaves no portion of historical understanding uncovered. If there are authors that write a three hundred sixty degree perspective, Mr. Johns surely works for nothing short of seven hundred twenty degrees of coverage. No rock is unturned in this tome of a book on intellectual property.
Don't get me wrong, when he discusses the historical development of intellectual property, the book takes on new meaning. I found myself fascinated when I understood the connections made by Mr. Johns. Like a mouse is followed his bread crumb trail to that "Ahaa!" moment, only, if I were a mouse sent on a reconnaissance mission and were to go back and lead a party of mice to that "Ahaa!" moment, I would surely be that sort of noob that lead my team of mice into a mouse trap and ultimately to death. I grasped at the wisp of knowledge and just like that moving forward in the book, I lost that understanding. Granted if you are used to reading law books this book will seem like a walk in the park, however, I was that one law student that turned to the briefs for my in class assigned readings, and if there is a sparks notes version of Mr. Johns work, I would jump at the opportunity to read it.
Of coarse, I want to be fair to Mr. Johns. This is a work of passion and it truly comes across as such. I have never before read any other works by Mr. Johns, therefore, i can not compare this piece to his previous work. However, this piece will stand alone in my library of academic works read, Mr. Johns will not take up further space in my virtual library, even if the Electronic Frontier Foundation extols the virtue of another work of his as being essential reading, I will certainly not hold myself accountable for making sure I educate myself, but rather will wait for other people to point out the essentials too me.
the one book i am going to finish this year, the one book I have to finish before the beginning of 2014, is Piracy: the history of intellectual property. No other book besides the The Brothers Karamazov has been as tedious and insipidly cumbersome to read as Piracy, at least for me. Shear stubbornness will get me through this two year ordeal.
September 1, 2010
It's clear when you pick this thing up that Adrian Johns means business. It's over five hundred pages, not counting the hundred or so of footnotes -- and these are almost all citation footnotes, not further explanation -- and it feels every bit of it. Each page is dense and each chapter, at about 30 pages, requires a fair bit of mental unpacking.
In the book, Johns traces the history of piracy as a concept, touching briefly on pre-printing open-seas type stuff, before digging in to the concept of piracy as we mostly hear it today. He traces countless interesting anecdotes, and follows numerous figures through a solid 400 years of history. He makes a couple of really important points that contemporary looks at piracy don't really get around to.
The underlying thesis seems to be that the kind of piracy we associate with file-sharing and Napster and the Pirate Bay is actually a very old concept, and historically intertwined at every step with ideas of creativity and publication. Never has there been a mass-media without piracy, and Johns has the stories to prove it. Occasionally I felt like he was overdoing it, but maybe a less willing reader required the convincing. After getting through the book, I was certainly convinced that piracy as we know it is not at all a new innovation, and really didn't care to read about another printing pirate from the 1700s.
A more subtle point he makes is how the notion of piracy has changed and expanded to incorporate things that wouldn't have been possible when the first accusations of piracy were thrown. There's a clear parallel between the operators of the Pirate Bay and the pirate kings of printing in Dublin and early America, but the present-day downloader, who is also said to be "pirating music," doesn't have so clear a connection. This kind of piracy of consumption dates back to UK radio licenses of the early 20th century, and Johns demonstrates this expansion successfully.
The EFF review of this book suggests reading only from that pirate radio chapter on, and I understand that impulse, but I think you'd be missing something if you did that. There are plenty of interesting stories (and too many interesting characters) in the first 12 chapters. At least read the first few pages of each chapter, in which he helpfully sketches the action that will follow, and then decide whether it appeals.
This was a struggle, and not always strictly speaking fun, but I enjoyed reading it, and I learned a lot from it. I'd recommend it to a person who's read about copyright and piracy, but who may be missing the historical background.
In the book, Johns traces the history of piracy as a concept, touching briefly on pre-printing open-seas type stuff, before digging in to the concept of piracy as we mostly hear it today. He traces countless interesting anecdotes, and follows numerous figures through a solid 400 years of history. He makes a couple of really important points that contemporary looks at piracy don't really get around to.
The underlying thesis seems to be that the kind of piracy we associate with file-sharing and Napster and the Pirate Bay is actually a very old concept, and historically intertwined at every step with ideas of creativity and publication. Never has there been a mass-media without piracy, and Johns has the stories to prove it. Occasionally I felt like he was overdoing it, but maybe a less willing reader required the convincing. After getting through the book, I was certainly convinced that piracy as we know it is not at all a new innovation, and really didn't care to read about another printing pirate from the 1700s.
A more subtle point he makes is how the notion of piracy has changed and expanded to incorporate things that wouldn't have been possible when the first accusations of piracy were thrown. There's a clear parallel between the operators of the Pirate Bay and the pirate kings of printing in Dublin and early America, but the present-day downloader, who is also said to be "pirating music," doesn't have so clear a connection. This kind of piracy of consumption dates back to UK radio licenses of the early 20th century, and Johns demonstrates this expansion successfully.
The EFF review of this book suggests reading only from that pirate radio chapter on, and I understand that impulse, but I think you'd be missing something if you did that. There are plenty of interesting stories (and too many interesting characters) in the first 12 chapters. At least read the first few pages of each chapter, in which he helpfully sketches the action that will follow, and then decide whether it appeals.
This was a struggle, and not always strictly speaking fun, but I enjoyed reading it, and I learned a lot from it. I'd recommend it to a person who's read about copyright and piracy, but who may be missing the historical background.
January 19, 2015
Working in the field of intellectual property enforcement, I thought this book was a great read. Its clear from the outset that the author means business and the text does, at times, become pretty dense and detailed. However, the author uses all of that detail to effect.
The book is heavily UK / US orientated with only the odd mention of what was happening at the time on Continental Europe and in other parts of the world. Later on in the book, Japan and Sony are discussed at length, in particular in relation to the VHS / Betamax "war". However, the focus remains, at all times, on developments in the UK and US.
The author has an amazing vocabulary and I found myself reaching for my dictionary every now and again. This, for me, just reinforces that this book isn't one aimed at the mass market. Still, I found it highly enjoyable.
The book is heavily UK / US orientated with only the odd mention of what was happening at the time on Continental Europe and in other parts of the world. Later on in the book, Japan and Sony are discussed at length, in particular in relation to the VHS / Betamax "war". However, the focus remains, at all times, on developments in the UK and US.
The author has an amazing vocabulary and I found myself reaching for my dictionary every now and again. This, for me, just reinforces that this book isn't one aimed at the mass market. Still, I found it highly enjoyable.
April 11, 2020
Fascinating, well researched, well written. Interesting fact: I found my copy on The Pirate Bay (thepiratebay.org, the largest collection of books and music ever compiled in the history of the world). It definitely appears the author uploaded it there, because it was a complete copy except for some images copyrighted by others that were taken out. A pirate wouldn't do that, only an author wanting his book out there without getting sued.
August 13, 2015
Fantastic survey of intellectual property rights and how they developed. The golden age of piracy (the Caribbean) was also the time when we developed the notion of "rights", starting with property and these two issues were not unconnected. Love it.
September 12, 2021
Very good material, and clear line of thought, that one misses from the most non-fiction books of the generation, but a challenging read, where the non native needs to consult the dictionary more than expected.
April 12, 2021
if you’re looking for an incredibly confusing and difficult read i recommend this
December 19, 2015
Kdo by si chtěl přečíst dějiny vývoje duševního vlastnictví, tak by měl sáhnout po jiné knize než je tato, protože zde se toho o tomto tématu příliš nedozvíte. Tohle jsou dějiny psané z druhé strany barikády, z ostrova pirátů, a Johns si nekomplikuje život nějakých podrobnějším rozborem doktríny duševního vlastnictví a její kodifikace - on řeší pouze její narušování. Na začátku u knižních sporů z minulých století to není až tak markantní, ale jak se časově dostaneme do řekněme devatenáctého století, tak je "stěhování" na pirátský ostrov dokonáno a člověk je odkázán na Wiki, což bylo pro mě zklamání. Alespoň hrubý nástřel zákonné definice duševního vlastnictví, patentů atd. v tomto pozdějším období byl nebyl od věci (párkrát je tu zmíněna Bernská úmluva, ale co to je, se v textu nedozvíte atd.). Navíc je kniha dost nekonzistentní - jak sám autor přiznává, část publikace již vyšla dříve jako samostatné texty a bohužel je to na ní vidět. Textu chybí syntéza, nějaké logické provázání kapitol atd., navíc Johnsův styl je takové to klasické akademické psaní, takže zrovna jednoduché čtení to není a až na pár výjimek to postrádá jiskru těch opravdu dobrých odborných textů (a tohle mělo asi navíc i ambici být populárně-naučným textem). Některé části textu do celku jakoby vůbec nezapadají (societální teorie atd.) - působí to dojmem, že autorovi prostě bylo líto to tam nedat, když už to nastudoval, byť se to k vlastnímu tématu zase až tak neváže.
Ale abych tu netahala z klobouku pouze negativa - ten dějinný exkurz na pirátský ostrov je přínosný minimálně ve faktu, že takové kontinuity si člověk většinou není vědom a také že historie má tendenci se u tohoto tématu opakovat. Některé myšlenky jsou zajímavé (problém autenticity, nenarušitelnost domova atd.), takže jako ztracený čas tuhle knihu vnímat nemohu, ale přece jen jsem čekala trochu víc.
Kontext: Pokoušet se číst odborný text s dětmi za zády není dobrý nápad, soustředit se uprostřed toho blázince je nad lidské síly, takže tohle se dalo číst jen po večerech, když drobotina usnula.
První věta: "V polovině roku 2004 začalo vedení tokijské centrály obří nadnárodní společnosti NEC dostávat zprávy o tom, že její výrobky jsou padělány a prodávány v čínských obchodech."
Poslední věta: "Historie nám může pomoci se na ně [rozhodnutí] připravit."
PS2015RC: A non-fiction book
Ale abych tu netahala z klobouku pouze negativa - ten dějinný exkurz na pirátský ostrov je přínosný minimálně ve faktu, že takové kontinuity si člověk většinou není vědom a také že historie má tendenci se u tohoto tématu opakovat. Některé myšlenky jsou zajímavé (problém autenticity, nenarušitelnost domova atd.), takže jako ztracený čas tuhle knihu vnímat nemohu, ale přece jen jsem čekala trochu víc.
Kontext: Pokoušet se číst odborný text s dětmi za zády není dobrý nápad, soustředit se uprostřed toho blázince je nad lidské síly, takže tohle se dalo číst jen po večerech, když drobotina usnula.
První věta: "V polovině roku 2004 začalo vedení tokijské centrály obří nadnárodní společnosti NEC dostávat zprávy o tom, že její výrobky jsou padělány a prodávány v čínských obchodech."
Poslední věta: "Historie nám může pomoci se na ně [rozhodnutí] připravit."
PS2015RC: A non-fiction book
February 13, 2017
This book is tough. Incredibly informative, vastly researched (possibly too much?), and an extensive vocabulary. Not exactly something you can "just pick up real quick a minute." I found I had to dedicate time to read this book (at least an hour a sitting) in order to finish it in barely under two months.
I would like to read it again, for the sake of better understanding it, but I'm definitely waiting a while.
Would I recommend it? If you really want to learn about the history of piracy, sure. If you're just looking for the highlighted arguments and a brief overview, there's probably a different book for you.
(Also, I read this book as preparation for reading Lawrence Lessing' "Free Culture." It is not yet known if I wasted two months on Johns' book or not...)
I would like to read it again, for the sake of better understanding it, but I'm definitely waiting a while.
Would I recommend it? If you really want to learn about the history of piracy, sure. If you're just looking for the highlighted arguments and a brief overview, there's probably a different book for you.
(Also, I read this book as preparation for reading Lawrence Lessing' "Free Culture." It is not yet known if I wasted two months on Johns' book or not...)
January 21, 2013
what a huge book--i got through it though. Johns did an admirable job in this 10 year + history of intellectual property wars. there is an incredible amount of scholarship here. the very vastness of time he looked at is somewhat mind boggling. There were definitely parts I found more interesting (and remembered) like the Stationers in London and the really quite interesting history of phreakers, hackers, and the rise of analogue and digital technology. Then there were small portraits of players throughout, some of who sounded like people I would like to know more about--yet--there were so many throughout that just as i would be getting into one person, Johns would run off with someone else in some other direction. sort of. really just fascinating stuff. I wonder if he had any clue about Nikola Tesla. Probably, my biggest beef, was when he discusses the advent of electricity, radio, telegraphy, etc., there is no mention of Tesla at all. Marconi--that pirate--can be found in the book, but nothing of Tesla. Oversight? or was Johns being witty. Who knows. Otherwise, huge. this book was huge. i got through it in a rather decent amount of time and found it revealing. The information alone regarding the history of intellectual property rights is pretty amazing. well done.
December 4, 2011
A masterful work of history, spanning half a millenium of changes in technology and culture and showing how intellectual property and the notion of piracy has changed over this time. From the earliest origins of the scientific journal (in truth the day's proceedings of the scientific meetings) to the rationale behind the formation of the BBC full of endlessly fascinating anecdotes and personalities. It is illustrative that only a very small portion of the book is about anything that happened in the last 50 years. All these fights have already been had. The last paragraph of the book (spoiler alert!) reminds us that we are currently in the midst of major changes in the notion of intellectual property and that the past can guide our future decisions about what to do.
This will most likely take you a long time to read, but if you are a librarian, you simply must read it.
This will most likely take you a long time to read, but if you are a librarian, you simply must read it.
February 6, 2010
This book is AMAZING. Yes, it is a 600-page historical and legal treatise on the origins of piracy as a concept (pirate as in software, not Jack Sparrow), but it's incredibly well-written, researched, and engaging. Right up there with The Wealth of Networks as a modern classic for any software scholar.
I don't tend to read academic books beginning to end; I've read two chapters of this and probably won't pick it up again for a while, but I wanted to write about it anyway because it has zero love yet on GoodReads.
I don't tend to read academic books beginning to end; I've read two chapters of this and probably won't pick it up again for a while, but I wanted to write about it anyway because it has zero love yet on GoodReads.
May 23, 2013
"Piracy" by Adrian Johns is remarkably modern and well embellished piece of historical literature. Today's tech driven economy is all about ever increasing gigabits per second and information highway ownership. It's books like these that will provide a historical account of how the concepts of Intellectual Property (in the United States at least) have developed into it's new tech driven quadrant of the metadata universe called ownership.
Read
March 28, 2011I forgot how pompous and superfluous academic writing can be. Despite tripping over tropes, and writing that is in general distracting me, this book has lots of interesting information and I'm going to keep reading.
Update March 2011: Moved away from the library where this was, but will pick it up again in the future.
Update March 2011: Moved away from the library where this was, but will pick it up again in the future.
Read
April 28, 2010Forget eyepatches, peg-legs, and parrots on the shoulder...these pirates are the kind who plunder intellectual property. This book is big and heavy and full of promise...but I got bogged down in a few pages and threw the thing aside. Better luck next time....
Want to read
September 19, 2010I'll admit I'm only 30 pages into this book and on the verge of giving up on it. I have no doubt it has great information in it, but its academic voice slows it down too much, often using ten words where five would do (in my opinion).
April 9, 2012
Bad mistake to try reading this tome on an e-reader. On the other hand, would have been an equally bad mistake to haul a p-book on my daily subway arounds...sigh, I've never been able to finish this.
June 13, 2010
This is an awesome book for anybody interested in the history of Intellectual Property. Adrian Johns really does a great job of bringing some interesting characters to life. Highly recommendable.
Read
December 28, 2013A refreshing take upon my favourite topic. The historical approach gives IP/piracy wars a contextual flavour that's proving to be very enlightening. A very well written book
April 17, 2011
A dense but thoroughly fascinating exploration of the very muddy history of copyright, patents, and intellectual property -- and the people who've challenged them. Highly recommended.
February 26, 2011
Un detallado estudio histórico sobre la piratería y los derechos de autor.
half-read-or-hibernating
August 8, 2013I had to learn some piratical moves to be able to read my totally legal copy of this on my ereader (one of the books I bought my Kobo for!)
Yes, I just admitted to having an ereader. Yikes.
Yes, I just admitted to having an ereader. Yikes.
June 5, 2013
Blah, blah, blah - some good examples but too long
September 17, 2013
Covers intellectual property piracy from the early days of print to current technology. Can be rather dry reading but fascinating to find out the long history of piracy.
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