Information doesn't want to be free : laws for the Internet age / by Cory Doctorow.

Forewords. Neil Gaiman ; Amanda Palmer -- Introduction: detente. What makes money? ; Don't quit your day job, really -- Doctorow's first law : 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. Anti-circumvention explained ; Is this copyright protection? ; So is this copy protection? ; Digital locks always break ; Understanding general-purpose computers ; Rootkits everywhere ; Appliances ; Proto-appliances : the inkjet wars ; Worse than nothing -- Doctorow's second law : fame won't make you rich, but you can't get paid without it. Good at spreading copies, good at spreading fame ; An audience machine ; Getting people to care about your work ; Content isn't king ; How do I get people to pay me? ; Does this mean you should ditch your investor and go indie? ; Love ; The new intermediaries ; Intermediary liability ; Notice and takedown ; So what's next? ; More intermediary liability, fewer checks and balances ; Disorganized channels are good for creators ; Freedom can be expensive, but censorship costs us the world -- Doctorow's third law : information doesn't want to be free, people do. What the copyfight is about ; Two kinds of regulation ; Anti-tank mines and land mines ; Who's talking? ; Censorship doesn't solve problems ; The problem with cutting off access ; Copyright and human rights ; A world made of computers ; Renewability : digital locks' sinister future ; A world of control and surveillance ; What copyright means in the information age ; Copyright : fit for purpose ; Term extension versus samplers ; What works? ; Copyright's not dead ; Every pirate wants to be an admiral ; It's different this time ; All revolutions are bloody ; Cathedrals versus the Protestant reformation ; Three-hundred-million-dollar movies ; What is copyright for? -- Epilogue. What does the future hold?.

"In sharply argued, fast-moving chapters, Cory Doctorow's Information Doesn't Want to Be Free takes on the state of copyright and creative success in the digital age. Can small artists still thrive in the Internet era? Can giant record labels avoid alienating their audiences? This is a book about the pitfalls and the opportunities that creative industries (and individuals) are confronting today - about how the old models have failed or found new footing, and about what might soon replace them. An essential read for anyone with a stake in the future of the arts, Information Doesn't Want to Be Free offers a vivid guide to the ways creativity and the Internet interact today, and to what might be coming next."--Publisher's summary.