Cory Doctorow - Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future

A word about this downloadable file:

I've been releasing my books online for free since my firstnovel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, came out in 2003, andwith every one of those books, I've included a little essayexplaining why I do this sort of thing.

I was tempted to write another one of these essays for thiscollection, but then it hit me: this is a collection of essaysthat are largely concerned with exactly this subject.

You see, I don't just write essays about copyright to serveas forewards to my books: I write them for magazines, newspapers,and websites I write speeches on the subject for audiences ofevery description and in every nation. And finally, here, I'vecollected my favorites, the closest I've ever come to aComprehensive Doctorow Manifesto.

So I'm going to skip the foreword this time around: thewhole book is my explanation for why I'm giving itaway for free online.

If you like this book and you want to thank me, here's whatI'd ask you to do, in order of preference:

• Buy a copy: http://craphound.com/content/buy

• Donate a copy to a school or library:http://craphound.com/content/donate

• Send the ebook to five friends and tell them why you likedit

• Convert the ebook to a new file-format (see the download pagefor more)

Now, on to the book!

Copyright notice:

This entire work (with the exception of the introduction by JohnPerry Barlow) is copyright 2008 byCory Doctorow and released under the terms of a Creative Commons USAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/). Some RightsReserved.

The introduction is copyright 2008 by John Perry Barlowand released under the terms of a Creative Commons USAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/). Some RightsReserved.

Publication history and acknowledgments:

Introduction: 2008, John Perry Barlow

Microsoft Research DRM Talk (This talk was originally given toMicrosoft's Research Group and other interested parties fromwithin the company at their Redmond offices on June 17, 2004.)

The DRM Sausage Factory (Originally published as "ABehind-The-Scenes Look At How DRM Becomes Law,"InformationWeek, July 11, 2007)

Happy Meal Toys versus Copyright: How America chose Hollywoodand Wal-Mart, and why it's doomed us, and how we might surviveanyway (Originally published as "How Hollywood, Congress, AndDRM Are Beating Up The American Economy," InformationWeek,June 11, 2007)

Why Is Hollywood Making A Sequel To The Napster Wars?(Originally published in InformationWeek, August 14, 2007)

You DO Like Reading Off a Computer Screen (Originally publishedin Locus Magazine, March 2007)

How Do You Protect Artists? (Originally published in TheGuardian as "Online censorship hurts us all," Tuesday,Oct 2, 2007)

It's the Information Economy, Stupid (Originally publishedin The Guardian as "Free data sharing is here to stay,"September 18, 2007)

Downloads Give Amazon Jungle Fever (Originally published in TheGuardian, December 11, 2007)

What's the Most Important Right Creators Have? (Originallypublished as "How Big Media's Copyright Campaigns ThreatenInternet Free Expression," InformationWeek, November 5,2007)

Giving it Away (Originally published on Forbes.com, December2006)

Science Fiction is the Only Literature People Care Enough Aboutto Steal on the Internet (Originally published in Locus Magazine,July 2006)

How Copyright Broke (Originally published in Locus Magazine,September, 2006)

In Praise of Fanfic (Originally published in Locus Magazine, May2007)

Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of themeta-utopia (Self-published, 26 August 2001)

Amish for QWERTY (Originally published on the O'ReillyNetwork, 07/09/2003,http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2003/07/09/amishqwerty.html)

Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books (Paper for the O'ReillyEmerging Technologies Conference, San Diego, February 12, 2004)

Free(konomic) E-books (Originally published in Locus Magazine,September 2007)

The Progressive Apocalypse and Other Futurismic Delights(Originally published in Locus Magazine, July 2007)

When the Singularity is More Than a Literary Device: AnInterview with Futurist-Inventor Ray Kurzweil (Originally publishedin Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 2005)

Wikipedia: a genuine Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy minus the editors (Originally published in The Anthology at the Endof the Universe, April 2005)

Warhol is Turning in His Grave (Originally published in TheGuardian, November 13, 2007)

The Future of Ignoring Things (Originally published onInformationWeek's Internet Evolution, October 3, 2007)

Facebook's Faceplant (Originally published as "How YourCreepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook," in InformationWeek,November 26, 2007)

The Future of Internet Immune Systems (Originally published onInformationWeek's Internet Evolution, November 19, 2007)

All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites (Paper delivered at theO'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, San Diego, California,16 March 2005)

READ CAREFULLY (Originally published as "ShrinkwrapLicenses: An Epidemic Of Lawsuits Waiting To Happen" inInformationWeek, February 3, 2007)

World of Democracycraft (Originally published as "WhyOnline Games Are Dictatorships," InformationWeek, April 16,2007)

Snitchtown (Originally published in Forbes.com, June 2007)