Richard Stallman: The Danger of Ebooks (2011)

“In an age where business dominates our governments and writes our laws, every technological advance offers business an opportunity to impose new restrictions on the public. Technologies that could have empowered us are used to chain us instead.”

Published in June 2011
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

commentary (Slashdot)
campaign of the Free Software Foundation

PDF

Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media Freedom (2011)

In order to illuminate the emerging threats to internet freedom and identify areas of opportunity, Freedom House created a unique methodology to assess the full range of elements that comprise digital media freedom. This report examines internet freedom in 37 countries around the globe. The study’s findings indicate that the threats to internet freedom are growing and have become more diverse. Cyber attacks, politically-motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure have emerged as especially prominent threats.

Editors: Sanja Kelly, Sarah Cook
Published by Freedom House, Washington DC, 18 April 2011
410 pages

publisher

PDF (full report)
PDF (booklet of key findings)

Mohammed A. Bamyeh: Anarchy as Order: The History and Future of Civic Humanity (2009)

This original and impressively researched book explores the concept of anarchy—”unimposed order”—as the most humane and stable form of order in a chaotic world. Mohammed A. Bamyeh traces the historical foundations of anarchy and convincingly presents it as an alternative to both tyranny and democracy. He shows how anarchy is the best manifestation of civic order, of a healthy civil society, and of humanity’s noblest attributes. The author contends that humanity thrives on self-regulation rather than imposed order, that large systems are inherently more prone to tyranny than small systems, that power is the enemy of freedom, and that freedom and community are complementary rather than opposing values. He concludes that a more rational world is produced not by delegated representatives but by direct participation in common affairs.

Bamyeh offers a concise philosophy of anarchy in the context of war, civil society, global order, experiences of freedom, solidarity, the evolution of modern states, and tax systems. He distinguishes anarchy from more familiar ways of thinking about the relationship between state and society that highlight the importance of power and control for social order. Further, he argues that the necessity for expert guidance or social collaboration in some areas of common public life does not require such areas to be run by a grand, overarching, or representative state. A cogent and compelling critique of the modern state, this provocative book clarifies how anarchy may be both a guide for rational social order and a science of humanity.

Publisher Rowman & Littlefield, 2009
World Social Change series
ISBN 0742556735, 9780742556737
241 pages

review (David Baronov)

publisher
google books

PDF