Vaidhyanathan, Siva. The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System. New York: Basic Books, 2004. 253p. $26 (ISBN 0465089844). LC 2003-26089.
Siva Vaidhyanathan is a media studies scholar and cultural historian with a PhD in American studies; he is also a modern champion of copyright reform. Originally he intended The Anarchist in the Library to continue where his previous book Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity ended, but somewhere in the middle of the book his focus shifted; he faltered. What was originally peer to peer (P2P) musical downloading and copyright issues became terrorist cells and moveable hut stratagem of third world pirates. He begins to correlate physical copyright infringement with electronic. He likens Al Qaeda and Zapatistas terrorist strategies to the way digital P2P operates. P2P now takes on a sinister tone as the flipside of the free flow of information is realized.
P2P copyright issues are still a political hotbed, the recent 220K (9700 per song), Oct 4th 2007, jury decision against Jammie Thomas for sharing her music online is a feast of debate on blogs and in the media. Brian Toder, Thomas' lawyer states in an Oct 8th CNN interview:"the harvesting of his client opens her case to appeal". Libraries as potential hubs of free flowing information could be impacted by the new copyright territories. In the last part of the book Librarians are labeled heroes and the perfect Library is described. Instead of using the perfect Library as a push for copyright reform Vaidhyanthan reins it in without making a clear statement.
Some of the books imagery is graphic novel fodder one example is 'locust man'. In 1989 Liu Biaqiang tied notes ie: "Freedom" onto the legs of locusts and let them go. Because of these messages locust man was sentenced to eight years in prison for "counterrevolutionary incitement" by the Supreme People's Court in China.
The Anarchist in the Library is a jerky read
and Vaidhyanathan's didactic writing style can require a 20 page at a time reading rest, but as an authoritative piece on P2P, I think The Anarchist in the Library is worthwhile exploring. The writing does flow despite the preachy tone of the book and with about 50 pages of notes, references and index, any librarian interested in the current copyright issues is sure to get some great source materials to read. I give it a call number and think it is worth inclusion on the Librarian's reading list. ----Leah Chamblee-- www.goalmlis.blogspot.com
Other books similar to the title:
The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy And The Anti-capitalist Movement by Michael Strangelove , 2005
Beyond the First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech and Pluralism by Samuel Peter Nelson. Basic Books, New York, 2004.
Revolutionary Wealth by Alvin and Heidi Toffler. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006
Bibliography:
Efroni, Z. (2007, Oct 8). Jury Selection No. 15. Retrieved Oct 8, 2007, from Stanford Law School: CIS The Center for Internet and Society: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5566
Rhonda Erskine. (2007, Oct 5). Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Violated Copyright Law In Music Download Trial. Retrieved Oct 8, 2007, from WCSH6 Portland : http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=71849
Timothy. (2004, July 22). News for nerds, stuff that matters. Retrieved Oct 7, 2007, from Slashdot: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/22/175237
(2006). The Untouchables, The Fetish of Touch, The Horse and the Song. In A. a. Toffler, Revolutionary Wealth (pp. 254-258). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Vaidhyanathan, S. (2003, Jan 17). After the Copyright smackdown: What next? Retrieved Oct 8, 2007, from Salon.com: http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2003/01/17/copyright/index.html
Vaidhyanathan, S. (2007, Oct 6). Case Will Challenge Parody Rights. Retrieved Oct 8, 2007, from Sivacracy: http://www.sivacracy.net/
Vaidhyanathan, S. (2004). The Anarchist in the Library. New York: Basic Books.
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