Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #759154 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.99 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Paul Miller, Financial Times Magazine, 8-9th July 2006
'[An] ambitious attempt to understand how the internet is changing society...This is an important book.'

Kenneth Neil Cukier, New Statesman, September 4 2006
'Benkler's work masterfully explains the political and economic
forces at play... His book is of lasting significance.'

About the Author
Yochai Benkler is professor of law at Yale Law School, Yale University.