Reading List

Articles

• Conference on the Public Domain at Duke Law School November 9-11, 2001. Collected Papers
• Courtney Love, "Courtney Love does the math" - Courtney Love talks about the ways in which major label record contracts rip off artists.
• Crash Course In Copyright created by the University of Texas. Focuses on fair use in academic institutions. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licensed.
• Negativland's collection of Intellectual Property Issues Articles
• Public Knowledge's collection of articles including :
  • So What … About Copyright - This primer, in plain and accessible language, provides the creator with an overview of copyright law.
  • What Every Citizen Should Know About DRM a.k.a. "Digital Rights Management (pdf) - A plain-spoken guide to DRM, written by Public Knowledge Legal Director Mike Godwin.
  • Saving the Information Commons (pdf) - A new public interest agenda in digital media by PK Board Member David Bollier and Tim Watts
  • Why the Public Domain Matters (pdf) - The Endangered Wellspring of Creativity, Commerce and Democracy by David Bollier

Books

Books that free culture advocates might find interesting, with descriptions.

Free Culture

• David Bollier, Silent Theft (ISBN 0415932645) - Silent Theft is a fresh and compelling critique of how private markets are eclipsing and "enclosing" the American commons. Bollier - a journalist, activist and public policy expert - not only documents the serious costs and consequences of runaway market activity, he develops a new language for understanding and reclaiming the commons.
• James Boyle, Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society (ISBN 0674805224).
• Rosemary J. Coombe, The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties (ISBN 0822321033) - Coombe offers a an anthropological perspective on the way that intellectual properties actually work in society. With a focus on trademark, this makes an interesting complement to Lessig's work.
• Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas (ISBN 0375505784) - This book might be something close to the founding text of the free culture movement. In it, Lessig lays out the case for an online commons and a more balanced approach to "intellectual property."
• Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (ISBN 1594200068) - In this book, Lessig will again stress the need for balance. He draws a contrast between "free culture," which provides lattitude for creativity, and "permission culture," which does not.
• Richard M. Stallman, Free Software, Free Society (ISBN 1882114981)
• Siva Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity (ISBN 0814788068)
• Kimbrew McLeod, Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity (ISBN 0385513259)
• Kimbrew McLeod, Owning Culture: Authorship, Ownership and Intellectual Property (ISBN 0820451576)

Free Software

• Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar (ISBN 0596001088).

Tangentially Related

• Kevin Kelly, Out of Control - This book is about our ideas about control, and the future we are plunging into. The book is free to read, but I do not believe it is free to change. This book might be an interesting read, but is not (as of now) officially recommended by FreeCulture.org for we have not read it yet.

More

Look at the recommended works for more information.

Other written works were discussed in the Free Culture 101 Blog post.