Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice [Paperback]

Julie E. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0300125437 | ISBN-13: 978-0300125436

The legal and technical rules governing flows of information are out of balance, argues Julie E. Cohen in this original analysis of information law and policy. Flows of cultural and technical information are overly restricted, while flows of personal information often are not restricted at all. The author investigates the institutional forces shaping the emerging information society and the contradictions between those forces and the ways that people use information and information technologies in their everyday lives. She then proposes legal principles to ensure that people have ample room for cultural and material participation as well as greater control over the boundary conditions that govern flows of information to, from, and about them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julie E. Cohen teaches and writes about intellectual property law and privacy law, with particular focus on copyright and on the intersection of copyright and privacy rights in the networked information society. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (January 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300125437
• ISBN-13: 978-0300125436
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 6.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Law > Legal Theory & Systems > Science & Technology
  • #39 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > Digital Law
  • #41 in Books > Law > Constitutional Law > Civil Rights

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Important Book January 8, 2012

By Frank A. Pasquale III

Format:Paperback

For anyone interested in cyberlaw, this is a must-read. Cohen has been developing a powerful critical & cultural theory of the net for years, and this book brings it all together in an engaging and provocative synthesis. The carefully considered work of one of our deepest thinkers about online life, Configuring the Networked Self will take its place in the canon of cyberlaw classics that includes Boyle's Shamans, Lessig's Code, Benkler's Wealth of Networks.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Book October 4, 2012

By Robert Greer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Julie Cohen writes persuasively about how legal-liberal assumptions impoverish public debate over tech policy. Cohen is very well-versed in modern philosophy of mind and employs this knowledge to her arguments adroitly. Her argument questioning orthodox economic assumptions about policy support her tech thesis well, but also stands just as strong on its own as an independent critique of economicized thinking generally. Although the prose can be a little dense, especially if the reader doesn't have a background in philosophy, the book is fabulous cover-to-cover.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-Provoking Must-Read July 8, 2012

By Book Inhaler

Format:Paperback

I bought this book 6 months ago, but other items kept getting ahead of it on my reading list. When I started it last week, by the end of the first chapter I was kicking myself for not reading it sooner.

Cohen does an amazing job of articulating what's missing from legal scholarship in key information policy issues, providing a sound theoretical basis for her arguments, and calling for a pragmatic, well-researched, scholarly agenda filling in those gaps.