David Bollier reviews 'Darknet'

David Bollier, co-founder of Public Knowledge and author of the acclaimed Silent Theft and Brand Name Bullies (both excellent works about the closing in of the public commons), reviews "Darknet" at his Onthecommons blog. It's a long, thoughtful piece. Excerpt:

Darknet arrives just in time. The rancorous policy battles over the design and uses of the Internet and other digital technologies are only going to intensify. I cannot think of another book that offers such a sweeping, intelligent survey of recent media developments in such a lucid, entertaining way.

Darknet is a collection of stories that describe the “personal media revolution” that is challenging Big Media, the centralized, top-down forms of consumer culture delivered by broadcast and cable TV, the Hollywood studios and the recording industry. While the book helpfully explains the technical realities driving this revolution, Lasica keeps its eye on the real issue – the shifting balance of power between big media and regular people. ...

In short, the media revolution is not just about technology, it’s about a cultural and political awakening. The digitally sophisticated younger generation realizes that they’re getting screwed by record labels that charge way too much for music CDs and prevent the making of personal copies of legitimately purchased music. They understand the arbitrary power of Big Media when it prevents them from watching DVDs on a Linux-operated computer, or when it makes their digital textbook “disappear” at the end of the semester, preventing them from reselling it. ...

Lasica gives us an entertaining tour of some of the most interesting developments in participatory media – and the counter-measures that Hollywood and the record industry are furiously developing. One chapter, “Cool Toys That Hollywood Wants to Ban,” looks at all the ingenious monkeywrenches that media companies are trying to introduce into tech design and “normalize.” ...

This strategic trajectory, Lasica warns, is precisely what is fueling the growth of the “Darknet,” the underground bazaar of free and illegal content that is already flourishing. Darknets, writes Lasica, are “private, invitation-only cyberclubs or gated communities requiring an access code to enter.” So long as Big Media insists upon absolute control over content – which implies intrusive surveillance and draconian legal enforcement – a significant number of artists, hackers, dissidents and ordinary citizens will create their own underground zones of freedom. ...

Darknet is a much-needed antidote to the rank propaganda that content industries have been peddling for too long to a credulous press. It helps clarify that how we allow our creativity and knowledge to circulate will determine what sort of people and society we will be.

Also, Clyde Smith of the Media Bloggers Association reviews "Darknet" at ProHipHop News. Thanks, guys. Impressive reviews. The fact that not a single newspaper or magazine has reviewed Darknet after two months certainly tells us something.

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