Steal This Blog

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case on the propriety of electronic file sharing, a historian's perspective may be useful. Argues Doron Ben-Atar, "History is full of examples of governments that tried to stem the outflow of knowledge and technology... In our own time we acknowledge our failure to prevent nuclear know-how and bomb-making materials from reaching the worst regimes on the planet. Shouldn't we simply admit that all efforts to block access to technologies are a waste of precious resources?" That might be overstating the case. Numerous technologies have been successfully kept secret (Greek fire) or at least restricted (nuclear weapons) for long periods, and few institutions have enjoyed the economic power and social clout of the modern American entertainment industry. But the mere fact that the question's up for consideration with the high court does demonstrate that some digital technologies seem to have democratizing effects...