Authors: James Boyle.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication Date: 1997-10-30


Reviews :

    Who owns your genetic information? Might it be the doctors who, in the course of removing your spleen, decode a few cells and turn them into a patented product? In 1990 the Supreme Court of California said yes, marking another milestone on the information superhighway. This extraordinary case is one of the many that James Boyle takes up in Shamans, Software, and Spleens, a timely look at the infinitely tricky problems posed by the information society. Discussing topics ranging from blackmail and insider trading to artificial intelligence (with good-humored stops in microeconomics, intellectual property, and cultural studies along the way), Boyle has produced a work that can fairly be called the first social theory of the information age.

Now more than ever, information is power, and questions about who owns it, who controls it, and who gets to use it carry powerful implications. These are the questions Boyle explores in matters as diverse as autodialers and direct advertising, electronic bulletin boards and consumer databases, ethno-botany and indigenous pharmaceuticals, the right of publicity (why Johnny Carson owns the phrase "Here's Johnny!"), and the right to privacy (does J. D. Salinger "own" the letters he's sent?). Boyle finds that our ideas about intellectual property rights rest on the notion of the Romantic author--a notion that Boyle maintains is not only outmoded but actually counterproductive, restricting debate, slowing innovation, and widening the gap between rich and poor nations. What emerges from this lively discussion is a compelling argument for relaxing the initial protection of authors' works and expanding the concept of the fair use of information. For those with an interest in the legal, ethical, and economic ramifications of the dissemination of information--in short, for every member of the information society, willing or unwilling--this book makes a case that cannot be ignored....

    In 1990 the Supreme Court of California ruled that DNA extracted from a spleen removed from your body could be patented--one of many court precedents to define the emerging laws of cyberspace. Boyle explores such seemingly weird decisions as well as legal issues surrounding autodialers, direct advertising, consumer databases, ethnobotany, the right of publicity, and the right to privacy. Boyle argues that contemporary ideas about intellectual property are based on a Romantic notion of selfhood that is outmoded and counterproductive in our information-based society, a society in which--as someone else probably said before the phrase was popularized by Stewart Brand--"information wants to be 'free.'"...

Authors: Steve Kelman.
Hardcover, 213 pages
Publisher: AEI Press
Publication Date: 1990-06-25


Reviews :

    Using federal procurement of computer systems, the author shows the effects of practices designed to prevent collusion between vendors and officials....

Authors: Jon Agar.
Hardcover, 564 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2003-10-01


Reviews :

    In The Government Machine, Jon Agar traces the mechanization of government work in the United Kingdom from the nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. He argues that this transformation has been tied to the rise of "expert movements," groups whose authority has rested on their expertise. The deployment of machines was an attempt to gain control over state action—a revolutionary move. Agar shows how mechanization followed the popular depiction of government as machine-like, with British civil servants cast as components of a general purpose "government machine"; indeed, he argues that today's general purpose computer is the apotheosis of the civil servant.

Over the course of two centuries, government has become the major repository and user of information; the Civil Service itself can be seen as an information-processing entity. Agar argues that the changing capacities of government have depended on the implementation of new technologies, and that the adoption of new technologies has depended on a vision of government and a fundamental model of organization. Thus, to study the history of technology is to study the state, and vice versa....

Authors: Henry Spencer. David Lawrence.
Paperback, 505 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly
Publication Date: 1998-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Usenet, also called Netnews, is the world's largest discussion forum and it is doubling in size every year. There are Usenet discussion groups on every imaginable topic, from the technical and scientific, to the political and religious, and onto the truly bizarre and arcane. If you simply use the Netnews system, all of this discussion can be interesting and entertaining. But if you're a system administrator who has to set up and run a Netnews system, you suddenly have the unenviable task of making sure that your system can handle a data flow of thousands of megabytes per day. Unfortunately, Usenet administration is one area of network administration that is still learned primarily by word-of-mouth and Internet folklore. That is, until now.

This book, written by two of the foremost authorities on Usenet administration, is full of practical information about how to set up and run a news system. Managing Usenet covers C News and INN, the two most widely used news relayers on UNIX systems. It explains the basics of starting a Netnews system, from getting a news feed, to building and installing the news software, to keeping everything running smoothly. Managing Usenet also offers guidelines to help you make sure that your system is capable of handling news volume today and in the future. This book contains everything you need to know to administer a Netnews system, from a single news server inside your organization to a complicated system with multiple servers, several incoming news feeds, and outgoing feeds to a number of other hosts as well....

    Usenet and newsgroups may seem simple to the casual observer, but system administrators who have to manage Usenet on their system or run a newsgroup know otherwise. Spencer and Lawrence share information that previously had to be learned online, providing system administrators with a detailed guide to Usenet management. They tell you how to choose between C News and INN, the two major contenders for Usenet software. Then they show you how set your software up and make your daily operations as trouble-free as possible.

The book not only presents administration tasks, but also helps you plan for the future, which is critical since the volume of Usenet communication doubles yearly. Besides the technical aspects, Spencer and Lawrence discuss the social and political sides of being a Usenet manager. They provide tips on how to interact with the rest of Usenet, how to handle irresponsible or illegal posts, and the fine points of moderating a newsgroup. Hint: reading the "What's in the Book" section will help you determine which chapters and sections you'll want to read right away and which are of less immediate interest. --Elizabeth Lewis...

Authors: Wambui Waiyaki Otieno.
Hardcover, 255 pages
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Publication Date: 1998-07

Authors: Jeffrey W. Bennett.
Paperback, 260 pages
Publisher: Red Bike Publishing
Publication Date: 2008-04-02


Reviews :

    What can be more important than protecting our Nation's secrets? This study system offers easy to understand career advice and provides a study system designed to help industrial security professionals and Government security specialists understand the NISPOM and Presidential Executive Orders implementing the National Industrial Security Program. This is the only product of its kind providing four practice tests, practical advice for security professionals and improved fundamental NISPOM knowledge. ISP Certification will both help prepare you for the test and provide career enhancing training to best meet the needs of Government and industrial security professionals. Why do you need this book? The following most recent security job postings tell the story: Must have CPP or ISP certification and Certification as a CPP or ISP preferred. Preparing for the ISP? Our book can help! Four practice tests of 110 questions each Analysis of Executive Orders and NISPOM , Game plan to improve industrial security skills Who can benefit from this book? Industrial Security Specialists; Businesses engaged in classified contracts; Government employees; DoD, DoE, NSA, CIA, DSS and any other agency employees involved in protecting our nation's secrets...

Authors: Goutham M Menon.
Paperback, 156 pages
Publisher: CRC
Publication Date: 2002-05-15
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Researchers and instructors: examine ways to make the Internet work to your advantage!

Using the Internet as a Research Tool for Social Work and Human Services examines the exciting benefits for social workers of using the Internet to facilitate their studies. By introducing various methodologies and insights, this book explains how the Web can be a valuable and legitimate form of research. This vital book examines the problems associated with studying virtual communities and cyber culture, and offers innovative ways to administer experiments by measuring response time over the Web.

This informative book explores new and innovative trends in Internet research, including:

• methodologies for data collection, sampling, and representation of the subjects
• psychological testing and using the Internet for training
• developing and deploying Internet studies by replacing traditionally administered questionnaires with online surveys
• the use of technology to enhance the development of research skills of undergraduate-level multicultural mental health researchers

...

Authors: Jon Anderson. Jodi Dean. Geert Lovink.
Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 2006-08-24
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Reformatting Politics examines the ways in which new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being used by civil society organizations (CSOs) to achieve their aims through activities and networks that cross national borders. These new ICTs--the internet, mobile phones, satellite radio and television--have allowed these civil society organizations to form extensive networks linking the local and the global in new ways and to flourish internationally in ways that were not possible without them.

The book consists of four sections containing essays by some of the top scholars and activists working at the intersections of networked societies, civil society organizations, and information technology. The book also includes a section that takes a critical look at the UN World Summit of Information Society and the role that global governance has played and will play in the use and dissemination of these new technologies. Finally, the book aims to influence this important and emerging field of inquiry by posing a set of questions and directions for future research. In sum, Reformatting Politics is a fresh look at the way critical network practice through the use of information technology is reformatting the terms and terrains of global politics....

Authors:
Paperback, 264 pages
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: 1991-04-02


Reviews :

    To the age-old debate over what it means to be human, the relatively new fields of sociobiology and artificial intelligence bring new, if not necessarily compatible, insights. What have these two fields in common? Have they affected the way we define humanity? These and other timely questions are addressed with colorful individuality by the authors of The Boundaries of Humanity.
Leading researchers in both sociobiology and artificial intelligence combine their reflections with those of philosophers, historians, and social scientists, while the editors explore the historical and contemporary contexts of the debate in their introductions. The implications of their individual arguments, and the often heated controversies generated by biological determinism or by mechanical models of mind, go to the heart of contemporary scientific, philosophical, and humanistic studies....

Authors: Soleman H. Abu-bader.
Paperback, 298 pages
Publisher: Lyceum Books
Publication Date: 2005-08-20


Reviews :

    Using Statistics in Social Work Practice is a practical basic statistics book intended for social workers who want or need to learn SPSS. Instead of focusing on the memorization of formulas, the author discusses the purpose of each statistical test, the rationale social workers may have for choosing it, and the assumptions made by each test. Each statistical test is accompanied by an example particular to the field of social work. The book teaches students how to use SPSS to run each test, read its output, interpret, and write the results.

A database prepared by the author is available on the Web for those who have access to SPSS software. Lyceum Books also offers a bound set of the book and a CD containing licensed SPSS software....