Book Description
Law, Business, and Society, 8/e, by Tony McAdams, takes an interdisciplinary approach, utilizing elements of law, political economy, international business, ethics, social responsibility and management. The author produces a compelling holistic picture of these concepts by giving extensive attention to readings, provocative quotes and factual details. Students learn not merely the law but the law in context.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Buy.......2006-03-25
The book has no color at all, everything is in black and white; also the case files found in the book are briefed and are poor reflections from the orginal public documents. I had to buy this book for a college class, it was cheaper here than in the school book store but I feel the book is only worth $20.
Review of Law, Business, and Society.......2000-05-15
McAdams, et. al. provide an interesting mix of economics, law, business, and ethics in this textbook aimed at upper level undergraduates. This interdiscplinary approach is especially appropriate for business courses which should examine these issues from multiple perspectives. My only reservation is that perhaps too much emphasis is placed on the legal dimension within the text.
Customer Reviews:
Corporate greed.......1998-10-10
A completely compelling account of exactly how far a business will go to make a profit. Brodeur is a brilliant writer.
An amazing account of how corporations poisoned millions........1998-03-08
An amazing account of how the asbestos companies poisoned millions and conspired to prevent the release of the dangers of asbestos. The book displays the possibilities of corporate greed and contains a blueprint for preventing future toxic nightmares.
Book 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 the 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 can 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.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Proves the Adage that You See What You Look For.......2007-07-08
I have been hearing about Yochai Benkler's book, "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms," for some time and his exposition around what he (and many others) have called the "networked information economy." Benkler, a Yale law professor, also offers his 527 page (473 in text) book as a free PDF from his web site under a Creative Commons share alike license.
First, let me say, there are a couple of worthwhile insights in the book, which I'll get to in a moment. But mostly, I found the book overly long, often off-subject, and too political for my tastes. In fairness, some of this might be due to the fact it was written in 2005 (published in 2006) and the social and participatory aspects of the Web are now widely appreciated. Yet I fear the broader problem with this polemic is that it proves the adage that you see what you look for.
Benkler's argument is that cheap processors and the Internet have removed the physical constraints on effective information production. This is in keeping with the non-proprietary nature of information as a "nonrival" good, and is also leading to the democratization of information production and the emergence of large-scale peer-produced content. Benkler generally allies himself with the camp of technology optimists. His observations about trends and new developments from Ebay to Wikipedia to SETI@home and open source software are now commonly appreciated.
With the costs of information duplication and dissemination trending to zero, the limiting factor of production becomes human creativity and effort itself. But here, too, with hundreds of millions of Internet users, just a few hours of contributed content from each can easily swamp the ability of even the largest firms to compete. These trends to Benkler presage a "radical decentralization" of information production, and many other changes to the political economy and culture.
That radical changes in the nature of information production and authorship and even the role of traditional publishers or the media are underway is without question. Purposeful collaborations like Wikipedia are now clearly successful and were not forecasted by many.
The lens, however, in which Benkler looks at all of these trends is through the "modern" history of the mass media. Citing Paul Starr's "Creation of the Media," he notes how in 15 years from 1835 to 1850 the cost of setting up a mass-circulation paper increased from $10,000 to over $2 million (in 2005 dollars). In Benkler's view, these cost increases shifted the ability to publish away from the common citizen into the "problem" hands of the mass media. Fortunately, now with the Internet and cheap processors, this evil can be reversed. Though Benkler specifically disclaims that he is not describing "an exercise in pastoral utopianism," the fact is that is exactly what he is describing.
There can be no doubt that the role of mass media and traditional publishers is under severe challenge from the emergence of the Internet. It is also the case that we are witnessing citizen publishers and authors emerge by the millions. These changes are momentous, but they do not involve everyone -- only comparatively small percentages of Internet users blog and still smaller percentages contribute to Wikipedia (about 80,000 at present based on a user base of hundreds of millions). And, as the traditional gatekeepers of printers, publishers and editors lose prominence, new institutions and mechanisms for establishing the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of content will surely need to evolve.
These real trends deserve thoughtful exploration.
However, there is a reason that publishing costs increased so rapidly in that era of the 1800s. Mass publishing and pulp paper were emerging that acted to bring an increasing storehouse of content and information to the public at levels never before seen.
The explosion of information content that occurred at this very same time correlates well with the fundamental historical changes in human wealth and economic growth. Though mass media may prove to be an historical artifact, I would argue that its role in bringing literacy and information to the "masses" was generally an unalloyed good and the basis for an improvement in economic well being the likes of which had never been seen.
By taking a narrow historical horizon and then viewing it through the lens of the vilified "mass media," Benkler is both looking in the wrong direction and missing the point.
The information by which the means to produce and disseminate information itself is changing and growing. These changes in information infrastructure support an inexorable trend to more adaptability, more wealth and more participation. What we are seeing now with the Internet is but a natural continuation of that trend. The "mass media" and the costs of information production of the 1800s was a natural phase within this longer, historical trend. The multiplier effect of information itself will continue to empower and strengthen the individual, not in spite of mass media or any other ideologically based viewpoint but due to the freeing and adaptive benefits of information itself. Information is the natural antidote to entropy and, longer term, to the concentrations of wealth and power.
By trying to push the trends of the Internet through the false needle's eye of political economics, an effort that Benkler also erroneously makes with his earlier analysis of the growth of radio, what are in essence historical forces of almost informational or technological determinism are falsely presented as matters of political choice. Hogwash.
Benkler, however, does observe two useful dimensions for measuring social collaboration efforts: modularity and granularity. By modularity, Benkler means "a property of a project that describes the extent to which it can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, that can be independently produced before they are assembled into a whole." By granularity, Benkler means "the size of the modules, in terms of the time and effort that an individual must invest in producing them."
Benkler's insight is that "the number of people who can, in principle, participate in a project is therefore inversely related to the size of the smallest scale contribution necessary to produce a usable module. The granularity of the modules therefore sets the smallest possible individual investment necessary to participate in a project. If this investment is sufficiently low, then incentives" for producing that component of a modular project can be of trivial magnitude. Most importantly for our purposes of understanding the rising role of nonmarket production, the time can be drawn from the excess time we normally dedicate to having fun and participating in social interactions."
To illustrate this effect of granularity, he contrasts Wikipedia with its simple entries and editing and bounded topics with the far-less successful Wikibooks, which has much larger granularity.
Creators of social collaboration sites are advised to keep granularity small to encourage broader contributions, and if the nature of the site is complex, to increase the number of its modules. Of course, none of this guarantees the magic or timing that also lie behind the most successful sites!
I think that Benkler's arguments could have been more effectively distilled into a 30-page article, with much of the political economy claptrap thrown out. The book is definitely worth a skim.
Phenomenal Book on Information Science and Peer Production.......2007-05-12
I first became familiar with Benkler after reading his paper, "Coase's Penguin" in undergraduate study. I was delighted to hear of the publication of this book. Benkler continues beautifully where he left off in his previous papers and synthesizes an excellent theory of social production in his book.
Benkler begins by describing the economic shape of information - it's non-rival and builds upon itself. He explains the challenges that face information, particularly the Babel Objection. Benkler also covers some legal background on aspects of a "liberal society", such as the role of commons versus private property.
From there, he makes his way into peer production. He touches different aspects of this type of production, from open source to distributed content production & filtering (click workers) to the results of the FCC's shift towards commons-based wireless policy. I found chapter 4, where he connects social production to the economic concepts discussed earlier, to be the most interesting chapter of the book.
He moves on to a lengthy discussion of the political effects of network distribution and social production, including a summary of the history of mass media and predictions about the future. From there, he lays down his argument that we ought to continue to encourage open networks and information sharing. He presents a discussion on current legislation and legal challenges to information and provides some examples of solutions.
I read this book coming out of an undergraduate program in Information Science and wished I had read this book perhaps my sophomore or junior year. Benkler essentially lays out, in linear form, the precise message that my professors were teaching. Because of networks, information science in the 21st century will not follow the traditional industrial-style of distribution but rather a distributed and non-proprietary model. Its impact is phenomenal, not only in the realm of economics and science but politics, culture, and interpersonal communication.
This book ought to be required reading for every undergraduate student studying Telecommunications, Media, or Information Science.
Good argumentation.......2007-04-28
I agree when some people say the book is not well edited (even not being english my first language I found some errors within it) but I think the greatest think about it is the attempt to explain something that it is easy to see that is happening today but nobody know why is happening. You know people write in Wikipedia and that most of them do that at their free time, you know that some people participate in great collaborative efforts to develop free software in the Internet, you know people keep blogs to express their point of view. But can you explain why that happens, why do they do that expecting no financial return or acknowledgment? What do they want? Perhaps you may know what you want when you do or don't some of that things but what about the rest of the world, if you care about it? What has changed or is changing or still must be changed in the societies so that happens?
The author doesn't explain it too but he tries to do it, it is an initial attempt to get some answers. His argumentation through the book covers many aspects of our lives, economic, political, social, antropological, legal and I think that at least at the end you will have some new insights on what is all that about.
Connectivization.......2007-04-20
Be forewarned that this brilliantly conceived book is not so brilliantly written, and the reading can be a real slog at times. Yochai Benkler is a perceptive social theorist but his thoughts are bogged down in academic writing that could really use some editing. Expect excessive introducing, foreshadowing, recapping, and summarizing, giving you the often tiresome impression that you will read Benkler's prose again or have read it before. This book also suffers from what business strategists and military tacticians would call "scope creep," as Benkler's broad theories on society and knowledge become so all-inclusive as to border on diffuseness and ineffectiveness - a problem that really slows down the middle section of the book. This is a common difficulty for vast unified theories about information and humanity, so prepare for some difficulty in following the main points that Benkler is trying to make.
But now that those warnings are out of the way, beneath Benkler's ponderous prose are insightful theories about the rise of networked culture, inspired by the digital revolution, in the face of lockdowns from entrenched power players. The initial uses of open networks inspired a megalomaniacal reaction from the industrial and political sectors, which have partially succeeded in forcing technological design changes, and persecution of new cultural behaviors, that threatened their economic and political dominance. For instance, intellectual property laws (patents, trademarks, and copyrights), which were originally meant to encourage cultural production, have been transformed by power players into tools to enforce corporate profitability. And if you think concerns over those trends are merely alarmism, Benkler provides profound evidence that damage really is being done to culture, freedom, and democracy - in ways that are far deeper and more troubling than the (corporate-inspired) popular rhetoric around piracy, rolyalties, and hackers.
Benkler informatively differentiates the types of freedom that are at stake - personal, cultural, social, and political - and ably demonstrates how each are affected by trends in infrastructure development, media behavior, corporate profiteering, and political gamesmanship. One especially winning chapter deals with how the rising network society can promote justice and development in third world areas that are not currently connected and may never be. The corporate and political insistence on regulating the information infrastructure and criminalizing user behaviors may represent a losing battle against the basic human drive to network and create, as can be seen in trends like open source software and community wi-fi. Benkler's main point here (when you're finally able to uncover it) is that humanity may be on the brink of a major change in the way we process culture and information, thanks to the growth in open worldwide networks. The old school power players won't go without a fight, adding unnecessary strife to the process, but Benkler has faith in humanity's ability to transform and rise above [~doomsdayer520~]
Excellent and Insightful Articulation.......2007-01-11
I highly recommend reading Yochai Benkler's book.
It is a balanced articulation of what the Internet and Web 2.0 are enabling in the development of new forms of social collaboration that are not adequately recognized as such by both private/regulated market advocates and welfare advocates. One of the things that struck me most is Benkler's capacity to create a perspective in which he can show that these new forms of collectives are rooted in old practices that have existed forever.
He also shows that these practices can gain major significance if:
1. The neutrality of the web, access to the web, Open Source initiatives, and the General Public Licensing type of legislation are improved,
2. The aggressive move toward Intellectual Property laws and regulations, and control by corporations, is counter-balanced.
Excellent read!
Book Description
Since it was first published in 1986, The Mediation Process has become a landmark resource for mediation practitioners, trainers, students, and professionals in corporate, legal, health care, education, and governmental arenas. This thoroughly revised and expanded third edition has been updated to include coverage of the most contemporary issues in mediation practice and to provide updated bibliographical resources.
Customer Reviews:
Detailed and theoretical.......2006-03-25
As a beginning mediator, I found this book very detailed and theoretical. I am sure that I will return to it again and again as I gain experience. I found "Basic Skills for the New Mediator (2d edition)" by Allan H. Goodman to provide a quicker and more practical overview. When used together, I believe both books are a good basis for the practicing mediator.
Great........2005-10-01
This book was great and exactly how it was described in the review. I received it at a fast pace.
Thanks.
Book Description
The Mediator's Handbook provides a time-tested, flexible model for effective mediation in diverse environments and situations. Completely revised, this new, expanded edition provides a clear overview of mediation and conflict; a large "Toolbox" section that details the skills and approaches used by professional mediators; and a final section that looks at informal mediation. A valuable resource for all working in corporations, government agencies, community organizations and schools.
Customer Reviews:
Great Introductory Text.......2007-06-25
This was used as a course textbook in an introductory ADR class, and I think it serves that purpose well. A great book for those new to ADR and mediation that clearly outlines the purpose and procedures of mediation. This text does not really discuss the psychological motivations behind party behavior except for briefly touching on cultural patterns. The focus is on the process.
The topics are dealt with step-by-step, and while the illustrations aren't necessary, especially for university-level courses or professionals, this is still a great textbook that adequately covers the role of the mediator and all the steps in mediation as well as tips for how to move the process along and recognize problems.
A Welcome Addition to My Library.......2002-02-04
I am a mediator, arbitrator, and trainer. The Mediator's Handbook is a welcome addition to my library. It is filled with practical advice,theoretical information, wonderful charts, and the nuts and bolts of mediation. I am sure every mediator, new or experienced, will benefit from this book. I recommend that every mediator skim the "Mediator's Handbook" as well as "Basic Skills for the New Mediator" by Allan H. Goodman (which I purchased at the same time) before every mediation.
God is in the details, and vice versa.......2001-09-04
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has received lots of attention over the last decade or so, and I'd like it to receive more. Here's a good place to start.
As an [ahem] older law student, I recently signed up to participate in a mediation program through a local courthouse. As I looked around for helpful references, my eye fell naturally on this modern classic by Jennifer Beer. Continuously in print since 1982 and now in its third edition, it's probably _the_ book that did most to teach the American public how to "do" mediation.
It's full of nuts-and-bolts advice on everything from what to say to where to put the chairs. And it's got something some other mediation books lack: a sense of the "spirituality" of mediation.
For the techniques in this volume grew out of the Friends Conflict Resolution Programs (FCRP). And the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers") is pretty good at conflict resolution.
(It's those "meetings." Some readers may know that in the early days of the United States, a half-century of so before the Emancipation Proclamation, the Friends unilaterally, voluntarily, and unanimously freed every last one of their slaves -- and paid them to boot, if I'm not mistaken. And anybody who has ever attended a Quaker meeting will understand why, even if they've never heard of John Woolman.)
I've got quite a few Quakers in my family tree, so I'm pleased by this approach. But it's very understated and mostly behind the scenes, so the casual reader will notice only that the book has a certain mood or tone.
What's really going on is that the mediation advice herein is implicitly predicated on the presumption that people are competent to settle their own disputes because each of them has "that of God" within. And the extraordinary sensitivity of the advice is based firmly on Quaker sensibilities: namely, respect for the individual conscience as the very voice of God, and a profound belief in the power of _listening_ both to others and to oneself.
The result is a book of advice on mediation that looks an awful lot like a book on how to grasp the "sense of a meeting." Even beyond the nuts and bolts, the "flavor" of the book will itself help the reader get a feel for what mediation is all about. That's a nice feature in a book on ADR, and it's no wonder Beer's book has been in print for so long.
Allan Goodman's _Basic Skills for the New Mediator_ is a good companion volume, by the way. His book is more aimed at people who do mediation in "courtlike" settings, whereas Beer's is for pretty much any context (including workplace and family, both of which she discusses). The two together are a powerful combination of resources, arguably surpassing many more expensive books on the subject.
And for a good history of the subject of ADR, see Linda Singer's _Settling Disputes_, which I've also reviewed.
Couldn't Be Better.......2000-11-12
As a mediator and one who trains others how to mediate, I highly recommend this clearly written,comprehensive mediation handbook. I have yet to see a more practical book on mediation skills.
Recommended for beginners and experienced mediators alike.......1999-07-25
As a trainer of community mediators, I am often asked to suggest books on the subject. One book I definitely recommend is Jennifer Beer's Mediator's Handbook -- and it is also a book I often go back to myself. It's like having a smart, experienced and helpful colleague available whenever I want, whether for specific problem solving or for more general inspirational conversation!
Book Description
Filling a void in the market, Conflict Diagnosis, Brief Edition uses the innovation of the Conflict Diagnosis concept to provide an in-depth appreciation of ADR processes. The survey takes both a true sociological perspective on the interdisciplinary topic of alternative disputes and prefaces these descriptions with an in-depth exploration of the theoretical and empirical basis for understanding their uses, misuses, indications and counterindications to provide readers with a thorough and complete approach to understanding, evaluating and developing strategies and tactics to address interpersonal conflict. The survey addresses basic definitions, dispute resolution processes, preconceptions about conflict and how they short change us, conflict diagnosis, the nine steps of conflict diagnosis, alternative dispute resolution processes, using conflict diagnosis to manage legal disputes and select ADR processes. For human resources personnel, dispute resolution system designers, trainers and ombuds, as well as ADR neutrals and neutrals-in-training.
Book Description
Corporations rule the world, claims Thom Hartmann, and they are despoiling it for profit. He traces the historical friction between individual rights and the corporation, culminating in a landmark 1886 court case that altered the course of constitutional protection forever. Since then, corporations have steadily acquired power, enrolled the average citizen in a new kind of servitude, shifted an unfair share of the tax burden, taken control of the media, and co-opted the regulatory process for their own purposes. Hartmann cites examples of the absurd and frightening power: sterile streams and undrinkable water, poisonous neighborhoods, a government's willingness to drill for oil in untouched Alaskan wilderness when saving 2 miles per gallon per car would produce more oil in 2 years than in all of Alaska. To end the abuses, Hartmann calls for a grassroots revolution. He says it's time to understand the true costs of our consumerist society, take back the government, and shift to a values-based economy.
Customer Reviews:
Corporate Power, where did it come from? .......2007-07-13
I was actually in the process of writing a book about the same subject matter when I became aware of Mr. Hartmann's book. After reading this book I conclude that Mr. Hartmann beat me to it and has done a more thorough job than would have satisfied me. It is a very important matter and threatens to change our nation in fundamental ways. A shortcoming in Mr. Hartmann's book is the weakness of his proposed solutions. I have proposed to Mr. Hartmann actions which I think would be more effective in the long haul. I am searching for an existing organization having the sole goal of putting back in their place those corporations which are usurping the power given We the People by the Constitution. I'm too old to form a new orgnization and those I have learned of are not sufficiently focused.
This book changed my life.......2007-05-10
I read this book and have been a Thom Hartman fan ever since.
He is brilliant and packed with knowledge.
Everyone needs to read this book!
Check out his radio show.
Gives the insde on the need to rationalize corporations.......2007-04-08
Going into the Freedom Portal (Free State) I had doubts about the morality, perhaps even the constitutionality, of corporations.
What, after all, is a corporation?
American Heritage says: "a) A body of persons granted a
charter legally recognizing them as a separate entity having
its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those
of its members. b) Such a body created for purposes of
government."
Now isn't the b) part of that definition interesting? At the very least we know corporations are creatures of the government and do not exist at common law.
Thomas Hartmann, a true modern lower-case democrat, writes that Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and several other Founders warned strenuously against monopoly corporations:
"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." --Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816
And from Andrew Jackson:
"Corporations have neither bodies to kick nor souls to damn."
These conscientious men were worried about abuse of power. Early chartering of corporations in America reflects this concern, often imposing severe limitations--such as prohibiting corporations from owning other corporations and requiring annual renewal of the charters.
Many people do not realize the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against corporate privilege. Queen Elizabeth charted the East India Company (EIC) in 1600; into the 1700s it dominated trade by Britain with America. Tea became a huge import to America by the mid-1700s and EIC wanted all the business.
Several acts prohibited Americans from acquiring tea from other sources. In 1773, the Tea Act exempted EIC (of which the king was a stockholder), but not colonial merchants, from taxes to the crown. The tea partiers were telling the Crown and the EIC stick their cheap tea where the sun don't shine.
...
For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]
Brian Wright
Copyright 2007
Unequal Protection:the rise of corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.......2006-11-10
A call to all fair minded Americans, as well as citizens around the globe.
One of Thom Hartmann's BEST. A history lesson and a call to reclaim our humanity.
'The' book to read on the issue of the role of corporate power in the US.......2006-04-30
Disclaimer: I'm a bit more than half through the book - and ready to comment on it.
I read quite a few books on liberal politics. This one is on a very short 'best' list of them.
It hits its mark right on - just the right amounts of history, the scope of its message, the gritty details when needed, the pacing.
I began to learn new details on well-trodden ground early in the book - for example, who knew that the pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower in 1620 were hardly England beginning its presence in North America - that it was the Mayflower's third or fourth trip carrying over staff of the East India company since 1601 - it was a company presence, the religious visitors were an afterthought.
He does an outstanding job of explaining the dominant role of colonists' opposition to the East India company in our own resolution. It's important to understand these things when we look at how to respond to powerful corporations today.
He does an excellent, balanced expose of the history of the legal doctrine that corporations are entitled to equality with humans.
The ramifications are huge, as today we face a political system in which the influence of our citizens is dwarfed by that of the inhuman organizations - where the citizens are turned into consumers to be sold to and manipulated with well-funded marketing, rather than acting as the sovereigns necessary for a democracy to work well.
If we don't begin to do something now, the chances may begin to disappear to be able to. Even now, we have democracy's power to represent its people castrated by clauses in the so-called 'free trade' agreements which allow the corporations to get all kinds of laws nullified.
I highly recommend the book.
Amazon.com
Some musicians recoil at the thought that their band is a business. They believe that their music is their art, and don't want to sully it with commerce. That's all well and good--but wouldn't you give up your day job if you had the chance? Music Law can help you see your band as a business and turn it into a successful one. Musician and attorney Richard Stim has filled this useful book with helpful advice on solving disputes between band members, dealing with lawyers, managers, and record companies, and even the increasingly important matter of sample clearance. The advice is extremely thorough; for example, the chapter on band names includes information on researching your band's name to ensure it isn't already in use, what happens if two bands have the same name, and even how to register your band's name and logo. Because he advises getting all agreements in writing, Stim has provided dozens of sample agreement forms, both as blank hard copies in the book and as templates on the enclosed disk. Throughout the book, Stim provides important legal advice, all translated from stilted legalese into simple English. Both big and little names get into these difficulties sometimes; the book is peppered with cautionary tales of real musicians and their legal squabbles. Music Law can help you avoid such pitfalls and get your band's business running smoothly--so you might be able to quit that day job, after all. --C.B. Delaney
Book Description
The No. 1 bestselling business book for bands!
If you belong to a band and love the art of your job, but sing the blues when it comes to the business, you need Music Law. Composed by musician and lawyer Richard Stim, the book explains how to:
find the right manager
buy, insure and maintain equipment
get gigs and get paid
tour on a budget
use samples
do covers legally
protect your copyright
trademark your band's name
choose a recording studio
sell your music
manage your website
understand record contracts
deal with taxes
and much more
Music Law provides all the legal information and practical advice musicians need. The 5th edition -- completely updated to provide the latest in the law -- covers music downloads and other trends affecting the digital-music scene. It also provides up-to-date legal forms on CD-ROM.
Customer Reviews:
The Essential For ALL Musicians.......2007-08-23
Like all carpenters needing important tools to build a house, this book is the tool for all musicians. It covers all the important music business information and will help cut down unnecessary misfortune for musicians. Definitely a MUST BUY!!!
Solid law basics w/ clear presentation.......2007-06-01
This offers a great foundation to Music Law. It is clear & easy to read w/ room in the margins for notes. Richard Stim even mentions a few legal loopholes you can benefit from.
You can also recieve free book updates on the Nolo website, which is a cool perk.
Everything you'd need to know!!.......2007-03-20
I've been in the business for a while and I thought I knew a lot but this book opened my eyes to so many other facets of the music business that hadn't even crossed my mind!! The contracts on the CD are very helpful and because they are in a word format, it's easy to customize certain ones to fit what I need!!
From Copyrights to Publishing to Taxes to Lawyers, This book talks about it all in a very understandable way!!
I recommend this book to anyone who wants their music and band to be their business and want to do it right!!
It will prove that practical and popular a pick........2007-02-06
If you're a recording musician serious about entering the business, you can't be without the 5th updated edition of Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business. It covers all aspects of music protection and music making, whether you're budgeting a tour, making an album, protecting songwriting efforts, or entering into a partnership with band members. Here under one cover is everything you need to do it right, from sample contracts and explanations of legal issues to handling taxes and choosing a recording studio. Libraries from public to college collections who obtain this book will want to keep it in the reference section: it will prove that practical and popular a pick.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Good title.......2006-05-20
Running and taking care of the band's business could be a tough and demanding job! If you need help in managing your financials, contracts and especially legal stuff you may choose this book but music business isn't limited here! Apparently that is the aspect most of the people are focused on but that doesn't make a great record and great publicity and you need those before even thinking about managing your business. So if you really want to get to this point first you should read: "How To Make A Furtune In The Music Industry By Doing It Yourself: Your Personal Step-By-Step Guide To Having A Successful Career In The Music Business. ... To Sell Music, Book Shows And Get Noticed!" which teaches you everything from scratch not only parts of this amazing tough world.
Average customer rating:
- Great first book to focus on the issue
|
Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated
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ASIN: 0387339299 |
Book Description
The subject of this book – whether or not to extend traditional telecommunications regulation to high-speed or "broadband" access to the Internet – is perhaps the most important issue now facing the Federal Communications Commission. The issue is also very contentious, with influential economic interests as well as academics on both sides of the question. Content providers – Microsoft and Amazon, for instance – argue that broadband providers should be treated as common carriers, required to transmit all content in a nondiscriminatory way. The broadband providers – the telephone and cable companies – argue that no bottleneck monopoly exists to justify such regulation and that, if imposed, it would stifle development of the Internet.
This volume consists of recently updated papers that were originally presented at a June 2003 conference held by the Progress & Freedom Foundation. The authors are among the top researchers in the field of telecommunications research.
Thomas M. Lenard is Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on electricity, antitrust, privacy, and other regulatory issues. Lenard received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. from Brown University.
Randolph J. May is Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies at the Progress & Freedom Foundation. In addition to writing a regular column for Legal Times, he has published more than fifty articles and essays on a wide variety of topics ranging from communications to law to constitutional theory. May received his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D. from Duke Law School.
Customer Reviews:
Great first book to focus on the issue.......2006-12-09
The first and only book to focus on the issue at hand, this volume is a compilation of six relevant articles totaling 225 pages of work. The style and format remains strictly academic throughout each paper. The writing gets fairly dense in the areas of economics and technology, but not as complex as some treatments of the subject. While a certain amount of knowledge in economics and network technology is necessary to comprehend many of the arguments, I believe this book is accessible to anyone with a desire to become informed on the issue. One of the articles, along with some material in others, is not original to this publication. The articles are tied together by minimal additional content: a foreword from the editors, a brief paragraph on each author, and a very useful index.
In addressing what they call "perhaps the most important issue now facing the Federal Communications Commission," editors Thomas M. Lenard and Randolph J. May position themselves conclusively in the camp opposing any type of net neutrality mandate. The selection of essays reflects their position. Four of them argue against Net Neutrality mandates, one argues in favor, and one offers articulate criticism of both sides, making the unpopular conclusion that no existing analyses can claim to know the right decision. It suggests that if uncertainty is high enough, the best decision might be to diversify through asymmetric regulation.
The arguments in this book against net neutrality are more developed than the ones for it, especially those dealing in economics. Therefore the scales tip in favor of the editor's position. However, given their stated position and that of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, I found this book to be quite even-handed and very informative of both sides of the debate.
Book Description
The intersection of ethics, law, business and computer software is the subject of these essays and speeches by MacArthur Foundation Grant winner, Richard M. Stallman. This collection includes historical writings such as The GNU Manifesto, which defined and launched the activist Free Software Movement, along with new writings on hot topics in copyright, patent law, and the controversial issue of "trusted computing." Stallman takes a critical look at common abuses of copyright law and patents when applied to computer software programs, and how these abuses damage our entire society and remove our existing freedoms. He also discusses the social aspects of software and how free software can create community and social justice.
Given the current turmoil in copyright and patent laws, including the DMCA and proposed CBDTPA, these essays are more relevant than ever. Stallman tackles head-on the essential issues driving the current changes in copyright law. He argues that for creativity to flourish, software must be free of inappropriate and overly-broad legal constraints. Over the past twenty years his arguments and actions have changed the course of software history; this new book is sure to impact the future of software and legal policies in the years to come.
Lawrence Lessig, the author of two well-known books on similar topics, writes the introduction. He is a noted legal expert on copyright law and a Stanford Law School professor.
Customer Reviews:
Essential Reading for any Intelligent Adult Favoring Social Progress.......2006-07-22
I bought this book at Hackers on Planet Earth 6, and then after reading it in the morning, had the double benefit of hearing the author as keynote speaker in the afternoon. He is everything the book's contents suggest, and more. The author is one of the original MIT hackers (pick up a used copy of Shirley Turkle's "My Second Self, Computers and the Human Spirit" and/or Steven Levy's "Hacker's" which the author himself recommends.
The author's brilliant bottom line is quite clear throughout the book: software copyright prevents people from improving or sharing the foundation for progress in the digital era.
The author's social-technical innovation, which appears now to be acquiring tsunami force around the world, and is manifested in the Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) movement that is being nurtured by governments worldwide from Brazil to China to Israel to the United Kingdom to Norway, is to modify copyright to a term he credits to another, copyleft, meaning that copyright in the new definition grants ALL permissions EXCEPT the permission to RESTRICT the enhancement and sharing of the software.
The author is also very careful to define the term free as meaning freedom of movement and growth, not free of price. GNU, his invention, removes computational obstacles to competition, and levels the playing field for more important innovations. In his view, the core issue is not about price, but about eliminating restrictions to freedom of sharing and enhancement.
On page 37 he sums up his life's purpose: "Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners having a fist fight (during the race)" -- they all lose.
The author carefully distinguishes between the free and open source software, citing the first as a movement with values, the second as a process.
His candidacy for a Nobel Prize is captured in the sentence on page 61, "Free software contributes to human knowledge, non-free software does not."
Across the book, a collection of essays put into a very well ordered (not necessarily chronological) form, this book is a history of GNU (not UNIX) by its creator and co-founder of the Free Software Foundation. It is replete with concise useful discussions of terms, conditions, and cultures relevant to the future of mankind as a thinking forward looking species.
Section two, on copyright, copyleft, and patents is very helpful, and likely to become a standard in the field as the public fires elected representatives who sell out to Mickey Mouse copyright extenders, and demands a return to the original Constitutional limitation of copyright as an artifact of government, not a natural right, focused on nurturing knowledge. It means mention that Lawrence Lessig (see my reviews of his books) writes the introduction--the two authors together, along with Cass Sunstein, may be the most important trio of thinkers with respect to the future of man in the context of science, copyright, risk, and software as a human global contributor to sanity.
The author's keynote address at HOPE 6 is discussed toward the end of the book, where he lists the Four Freedoms:
Freedom 0: Run a program as you wish, for any purpose you wish, not limited to any narrowly defined application.
Freedom 1: Help yourself by improving the program (which requires access to source code).
Freedom 2: Help your neighbor by sharing a copy of the program with them.
Freedom 3: Help community by sharing the improved copy at large.
There is no question in my mind but that this manifesto of a single man's life's work is as important as Tom Paine's Common Sense treatises. There is a war now emergent between the classes (US elites bribing foreign elites, both screwing their publics over for private gain), and between corporations and the people, corporations long having abused the independent legal personality that was granted to promote business, and ended up being a legal barrier to holding corporate managers accountable for grand theft and social irresponsibility.
Toward the end the author offers thoughtful suggestions on how to "drop out" of the proprietary software world, and his thinking resonates with "No Logo" and its recommendations on selective purchasing.
This book is not a technical book although it offers up many understandable insights to technical matters underlying the social philosophy of the author. It is not a legal book either, but offers important informed commentary vital to getting the law focused again on human progress. Finally, in no way does the book dismiss the importance of capitalism--the author clearly states that it is entirely appropriate to charge a fee for one's contributions--this is about the "how" not the "how much.
Absolutely superb collection of essays, extremely important to where we go in the future. The author is not only an original hacker, he represents hacking as it should be understood by the authorities (see my review of Bruce Sterling, Hackers at the Edge of the Electronic Frontier), and as I see them--as people who have the "right stuff" and are testing the edge, pushing the frontier. In a world of drones, these are the libertarian spirits that may well keep us out of perpetual prison.
For reference: DARPA's STRONG ANGEL program, empowered now by DoD Directive 3000.cc. specifically seeks to create a suite of collaborative sharing and analytic tools that can be provided free to any non-governmental organization and any state and local government. Support costs have to be shared. It is now understood at the highest levels of the US military that we cannot make peace without sharing all information in all languages all the time (my third book), and this is progress.
Nice Explanations.......2002-11-06
The editor wrote a short forward explaining all the computer concepts the reader will need in order to understand the book. In addition, there are footnotes throughout the book explaining obscure people and computer terms. This way even a sociology major like myself can understand everything.
Stallman talks about important issues that are currently being played out in Washington DC. This book is a great way to help make sense of it all.
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