With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment. In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing - and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained, or lost, by the decisions we make today.
The Wealth of Networks
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Review
'Benkler's work masterfully explains the political and economic
forces at play... His book is of lasting significance.'
-- Kenneth Neil Cukier, New Statesman, September 4 2006
'[An] ambitious attempt to understand how the internet is changing society...This is an important book.' -- Paul Miller, Financial Times Magazine, 8-9th July 2006
forces at play... His book is of lasting significance.'
-- Kenneth Neil Cukier, New Statesman, September 4 2006
'[An] ambitious attempt to understand how the internet is changing society...This is an important book.' -- Paul Miller, Financial Times Magazine, 8-9th July 2006
About the Author
Yochai Benkler is professor of law at Yale Law School, Yale University.
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50 of 50 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Tiarks
Format:Hardcover
First off, if you're looking for a nice introduction to what happens when law meets the internet, this is not your book. If this is your first dip into the debate, you're looking for Code or The Future of Ideas, both by Lawrence Lessig. Like those books (especially TFOI) it's big on the idea of the internet as a wonderful platform for free expression and innovation, both economically and socially motivated. Like them, it stresses the importance of openness and the commons in maximising the internet's potential and so wants open spectrum, open code and less hasty and restrictive intellectual property law. Unlike them, it can be very heavy going at times.
That's not really a criticism, because Benkler's written something much more self-consciously theoretical than most of the other cyber-law stuff you'll find on the market. His big idea is that the really fundamental change that the internet brings is social production - the fusion between social instincts, altruism and OCD that leads people to work on Linux, contribute to Wikipedia and write product reviews on Amazon. He then looks at what exactly this changes for economic production, democratic participation, cultural freedom and development, and argues that we need to do more to recognise and protect the benefits that it brings.
If did have a criticism, it would be that the book formalizes and thus labours what may seem like rather obvious points after the third variation. On the other hand, that's the nature of the beast if you're looking for a thorough academic treatment of these issues. The issues addressed are hugely important for anyone interested in economics or politics in the information age, and this is the most definitive treatment of them so far. Probably not one for the airport lounge, though.
That's not really a criticism, because Benkler's written something much more self-consciously theoretical than most of the other cyber-law stuff you'll find on the market. His big idea is that the really fundamental change that the internet brings is social production - the fusion between social instincts, altruism and OCD that leads people to work on Linux, contribute to Wikipedia and write product reviews on Amazon. He then looks at what exactly this changes for economic production, democratic participation, cultural freedom and development, and argues that we need to do more to recognise and protect the benefits that it brings.
If did have a criticism, it would be that the book formalizes and thus labours what may seem like rather obvious points after the third variation. On the other hand, that's the nature of the beast if you're looking for a thorough academic treatment of these issues. The issues addressed are hugely important for anyone interested in economics or politics in the information age, and this is the most definitive treatment of them so far. Probably not one for the airport lounge, though.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Jezza
Format:Paperback
Well, of course it's much more than that. To pursue the Marxist analogy, this is more a 'Capital' than a 'Communist Manifesto'. It is long and it is repetitive, and it's got quite a lot of economic and regulatory theory in it. That said, it is very good, and very clear, if dense. Benkler provides a thorough justification for social production, and a sound argument against the extension of 'intellectual property'. It introduced me to a number of new economic concepts - I had managed to spend my first fifty three years without the idea of a 'nonrival good', for example. There is a great sweep of perspective, but plenty of detail and anecdote. It's a shame that quite a few of these seem a bit dated, and I hope that links to the author online will help with more up to date material.
But I'd recommend this to anyone who wants an introduction to the underlying economics of P2P or to the regulation of property on the internet, or the economics of social production.
One other thing - the organisation and the style of the writing are exemplary. The book ends with a summary of its main arguments. Sometimes that can be tedious, but here it works really well, bringing together and stating the themes very clearly.
But I'd recommend this to anyone who wants an introduction to the underlying economics of P2P or to the regulation of property on the internet, or the economics of social production.
One other thing - the organisation and the style of the writing are exemplary. The book ends with a summary of its main arguments. Sometimes that can be tedious, but here it works really well, bringing together and stating the themes very clearly.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A great book that puts the whole social production, such as wikipedia and free software, into a much greater perspective than what one normally sees and analyzes it from several new angles which I havn't read anywhere before. The only weak points of the book is that its quite long and at times somewhat repetitive.
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