Living Bibliography

Darknet: Hollywood’s war against the digital generation

J.D. Lasica

A book for anyone who has ever downloaded music, movies, or other entertainment products from the Internet. Probed here is the phenomenon of “darknets,” networks of people who rely on closed–off digital spaces for the purpose of sharing copyrighted digital material privately with others. As entertainment companies continue to shut down public P2P networks of illegal file sharing such as KaZaA, Lasica speculates that many more darknets will spring up to accommodate the desire for sharing such media. He describes how corporations will continue their attempts to lock down our entertainment devices so they become no more useful than a receptacle for one–way transmission of media products restricted by the companies producing them. This new lockdown culture could result in not being able to copy a song from a CD (legitimately purchased or otherwise), watch a recorded DVD (legitimately purchased or otherwise), or store a copy of a television program for more than a day. In the end, Lasica offers a ten–point “digital culture road map” that can both serve to protect intellectual property and to provide consumers with the ability to express, sample, and share.