The Fight over Digital Rights The Politics of Copyright and Technology

In the political fight over copyright, Internet advocacy has reshaped the playing field. This was shown in the 2012 'SOPA blackout', when the largest online protest in history stopped two copyright bills in their tracks. This protest was the culmination of an intellectual and political evolution more than a decade in the making. This book examines the debate over digital copyright, from the late 1980s through early 2012, and the new tools of political communication involved in the advocacy around the issue. Drawing on methods from legal studies, political science and communications, it explores the rise of a coalition seeking more limited copyright, as well as how these early-adopting, technology-savvy policy advocates used online communication to shock the world. It compares key bills, congressional debates, and offline and online media coverage using quantitative and qualitative methods to create a rigorous study for researchers that is also accessible to a general audience.

1. Lightning in a bottle; Part I. A Political History of Digital Copyright through 2006: 2. The Audio Home Recording Act, 1987–92; 3. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; 4. A DRM interlude: 1999 to 2002; 5. DMCA reform and the broadcast flag; Part II. Political Communication in Key DRM Debates, 1989–2006: 6. Communicating in Congress; 7. Communicating in print; 8. The copyright and DRM debate online; 9. Comparing the online and offline DRM debates; Part III. The Present and Future of Digital Copyright and Digital Advocacy: 10. The DRM debate withers, 2007–10; 11. New strategies and an historic uprising; 12. The future of digital rights - and digital fights.

Bill D. Herman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York. He earned a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, in 2009. His work has appeared in journals such as the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Communication Law and Policy and the Federal Communication Law Journal.