Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
by Lawrence Lessig
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 June, 2000)
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Editorial Review

"We, the Net People, in order to form a more perfect TransferProtocol..." might be recited in future fifth-grade history classes, saysattorney Lawrence Lessig. He turns the now-traditional view of the Internet asan uncontrollable, organic entity on its head, and explores the architecture andsocial systems that are changing every day and taming the frontier. Code andOther Laws of Cyberspace is his well-reasoned, undeniably cogent series ofarguments for guiding the still-evolving regulatory processes, to ensure that wedon't find ourselves stuck with a system that we find objectionable. As theformer Communist-bloc countries found, a constitution is still one of our bestguarantees against the dark side of chaos; and Lessig promotes a kind ofdocument that accepts the inevitable regulatory authority of both government andcommerce, while constraining them within values that we hold by consensus.

Lessig holds that those who shriek the loudest at the thought of interference incyberdoings, especially at the hands of the government, are blind to theever-increasing regulation of the Net (admittedly, without badges or guns) bybusinesses that find little opposition to their schemes from consumers,competitors, or cops. The Internet will be regulated, he says, and our window ofopportunity to influence the design of those regulations narrows each day. Howwill we make the decisions that the Framers of our paper-and-ink Constitutioncouldn't foresee, much less resolve? Lessig proclaims that many of us will haveto wake up fast and get to work before we lose the chance to draft a networkedBill of Rights. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Good overview for outsiders - common sense for many
The premise of Code is that the architecture of the internet and not any one country's laws controls what one can do on it.One clear evidence of architecture controlling our lives is our dependence on cars.Most American cities grew large after the car had become common.Hence they have limited transportation.Hence one is expected to own a car to live a normal life.Similarly the architecture of the internet will make certain activities much easier than others.The difference is the internet is currently being formed and we can choose what we want it to be if we act now (or in 1999 anyway).

Lessig identifies four factors that influence what any individual can and will do on or offline: law, architecture (physics in the real world), social norms, market forces (since corporations have so much control over what gets done).This way of looking at things combined with the cute little diagrams may clarify things you already know about the internet.There is also much discussion threaded through the book of legal issues in the past that may prove applicable to cyberspace now.

Basically I tried to read this, but found it a bit dumbed down.I skimmed it and it was good for me to look closer at some of the relationships in play on the development of the internet, or maybe to solidify things in my head.However it didn't tell me much and Lessig keeps repeating himself blah blah blah and then going into rapturous praise of open source code and newsgroups and other old hat thing on the internet.(I realize that this was published in 1999 but I don't feel that it would have been new info for me then either.)

If you are the sort of person who has read the Jargon File, then you are unlikely to get much out of Code (except if you are interested in legal history about privacy, IP etc - but then again the premise of the book is that architecture more than law influences what can and can't be done online).However, for an outsider interested in learning about the subcultures that exist online and more about the sociology type aspects of computing this would be a useful introduction.

Great book on Cyberspace and a must read for people in the t
This is another great book that discusses what is going on in cyberspace today (or 1999 when it was written) first by defining cyberspace as a place where we can create personalities and have the ability to speak like we would never do in the real world. The book then goes on to discuss how the internet is regulated or not regulated and what the internet can and should become.

The book starts out by discussing multiple forms of regulation and just because technology makes it easier to monitor or regulate does not mean that it is right or legal. The book also discusses what things should be regulated and how and who should regulate it. The next chapters go into Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Privacy and other freedoms we have and should fight to protect. The book talks about Open Source vrs Closed Source software and how regulation can and is added to each. One of the solutions of the book is to offer transparent regulation that allows user to know what is regulated. This is possible and is happening now in Open Source software but is not happening in closed source software. This is an excellent book that should help call us to action that will help provide the right kind of regulation while ensuring our freedoms or not reduced. This is a great book and I would recommend it..

Beautiful Style
I am impressed with the ease of reading of this book. Also Lessig repeats himself constantly. It is very easy to get at what he is saying. Mind you this a law course text book and the laws are American which are only obliquely useful to us Canadians. ... Read more

Isbn: 0465039138
Subjects:  1. Computer Architecture - General    2. Federal Jurisdiction    3. Law    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Science & Technology   

Shamans, Software and Spleens : Law and the Construction of the Information Society
by James Boyle
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 October, 1997)
list price: $19.50 -- our price: $19.50
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Editorial Review

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.'" ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Brilliant but virtually unreadable
Boyle's ideas are fantastic and his analysis is poignant and timely.Be forewarned, however, that the average sentence length in this book is so long that you will get lost multiple times per page.Add in an average of 0.4 cryptic references to ancient literature per page and a healthy dose of words that will send even Duke law students running for the dictionary and you have a very tough task in front of you.

If you want to learn from Boyle, take his IP class, don't try to read the book.His IP class is fabulous.But beware that he will ask you read this book (I hear even his torts students had to read it) and it will be a terrible experience. You will need to be able to come up with at least one idea from it to toss into your exam answers, as he generally writes at least one question that starts with "Using one or more concepts from Shamans..." The dreadful 27 hour take home exam period is not the time to pick the book up for the first time.

Information Economics meets Legal Realism
In a wonderful exposition of contemporary thinking on how markets and institutions produce and distribute information and knowledge, James Boyle gives readers some powerful analysis and some of the conceptual tools they'll need to make the Judge Posner's and Richard Epstein's of the world squirm a bit given their desire to wish away the complex issues Legal Realism raised regarding property and contract law.

Markets, property, privacy, information and knowledge are all social constructs which generate asymmetries of power and Professor Boyle shows the potential for mischief that may occur if workers, citizens, economists and attorneys refuse to rethink what kind of power relations, if any, are consistent with democratic norms.

By looking at such issues as "what is an author" [what is epistemic agency] and the issue of self-ownership of our bodies, Boyle creates a collage of juxtapositions that are of immense relevance to issues such as whether what happened at Enron and other corporations is a manifestation of insider trading, what shall be the scale and scope of patents and copyrights given the need to balance "efficiency" and equity and access, how shall we handle the commodification of our bodies and thoughts?

All of these are tough issues that are never going to go away and Boyle's choice of using Legal Realism as mode of inquiry into how we will shape the future of entitlements to knowledge and it's pecuniary benefits is probably the best choice that can be made for those who see glaring limitations in libertarianism.

The one topic, that in my view is critical for carrying the discussion forward, yet is missing from Boyle's analysis, is employment contracts. The self-ownership thesis as applied to the knowledge in workers heads, as Kenneth Arrow, Michael Perelman, David Ellerman and others have pointed out, raises difficult issues for corporate governance and the rights of workers. Information economics has many unexplored vistas related to labor law; who owns the knowledge of the firm, under what conditions are workers entitled to privacy from their fellow workers - an immense topic given how corporate hierarchies generate huge asymmetries of power at work and the resulting distribution of income. Hopefully Professor Boyle and his colleagues will take up these critical issues in the future.

As for the other reviewers anxieties concerning Karl Marx, their fears are completely unfounded.

Good points lost in poor writing
Boyle raises several interesting points regarding information law and he does bring a different way of deciphering the intricacies of copyright and information law.However, many times his arguments are lost in his use of analogies, references, and words which even an attorney can not understand.In other parts of his book, he provides little explanation of the economic theories which have been used by previous scholars to defend the current status of information law.This leaves the reader confused unless the reader is an economist by training.Although I agree with Boyle's view of information law as being bigger than it has previously been defined, I think his archaic style of writing leaves the reader more frustrated than enlightened.I recommend having Black's Law Dictionary and Webster's handy if you are going to read this book. ... Read more

Isbn: 0674805232
Subjects:  1. General    2. Intellectual Property    3. Law    4. Reference    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - Social Theory    7. Copyright    8. Moral rights    9. Authors    10. Legal status, laws, etc    11. Law Of Intellectual Property    12. Information Theory    13. POLITICS/CURRENT EVENTS    14. Social Group or Collective Psychology   

Complete Idiot's Guide to XML (Complete Idiot's Guide)
by DavidGulbransen
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (18 May, 2000)
list price: $24.99
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Reviews (9)

The Name Says it All
I found this book useful in getting started with XML, as it was the easiest to understand. It only covers XML and DTDs, not XSL, CSS, Xlink etc. Everything is spoon fed, and it assumes no programming knowledge. Still if you master the contents, you will have a reasonable basic knowledge of XML.

world record for poor proof reading
I have never read a book so littered with mistakes. To a neophyte this book must be so confusing as to be totally useless. Can you believe the author gives three different renderings of the acronym SGML within a few pages of each other. Many absolutely critical points are muffed by the most banal and obvious proof reading errors. The final straw is the tear out reference card which can't even get the rules for XML names correct. Really, it's just too, too bad.

good for nonprogrammers
This is an easy to read and understand guide to desigining and writing XML documents.It doesn't cover the programming half of the problem at all, not even mentioning popular XML parsers for various programming languages.So it's not complete for learning how to build systems that use XML.As befits a "Complete Idiot's Guide", it has a lot of redundancy.Maybe that's so you can understand what's going on no matter where you start in the book.There are some proofreading problems (wrong fonts, missing letters and punctuation, wrong words in examples) which suggest it was rushed out the door. ... Read more

Isbn: 0789723115
Sales Rank: 596068
Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computer Networks    4. Computer Programming Languages    5. Computers    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Networking - General    8. Programming Languages - HTML    9. Programming Languages - XML    10. XML (Document markup language)    11. Computers / General   

Network+ Certification for Dummies (With CD-ROM)
by RonGilster
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (15 February, 2002)
list price: $34.99 -- our price: $23.09
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Reviews (24)

A good stepping stone
A good starter book that will not go over your head!

Passed
This is a good book for whom it is intended for; networking dummies!I had no previous networking experience before taking the Net+, so this was a great introductory guide to the networking world.Emphasis on INTRODUCTORY!There is a lot that the book did not cover that is on the exam.The exam also expects one to know the information in much more detail than the book gives.

I recommend using not only the dummies book, but also the Cram Session Guide, transcenders, and Self-Test Software.Also, as I said with the A+ for Dummies review, a great study partner can be one's greatest resource!

Numerous content errors.
I passed my Network+ 886/900. Which means I missed one question. But my high score had NOTHING to do with this title. I also would like to add to the other disappointed reviews that I emailed BOTH Ron Gilster AND the dummies press with several instances of factually incorrect information, asking if any errata was posted; as of today, 12 months later, I have received NO REPLY from either party from the 4 emails I sent.

Ed Tittel from Exam Cram ALWAYS returns emails. Are they unwilling to live up to the same standards? ... Read more

Isbn: 0764516213
Sales Rank: 64726
Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Bks - Certification    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Network Management    6. Computer networks    7. Computers    8. Examinations    9. Networking - General    10. Study guides    11. Telecommunications engineers    12. Computer Communications & Networking    13. Computers / Technical Skills    14. Computing and Information Technology   

Just Xml
by John E. Simpson
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 August, 1998)
list price: $34.99
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Editorial Review

XML promises to structure and deliver data within the next generation of Web browsers. Understanding XML can be difficult, but John Simpson's guide explains it with style, simplicity, and wit, showing what XML is and how it works.

Early on, the author places XML in context of the HTML and SGML Web standards and explains its advantages for sending virtually any type of content over the Internet--regardless of what that data may be. (In XML, designers literally define their own tags and rules for the data.) The author's choice of content is original--his "FlixML" sample XML uses old movies (in particular, classic Hollywood B movies) as its focus. This entertaining approach doesn't skimp on the real details of XML, however, which suggests how flexible XML is. (For the true film buff, Just XML also includes several short reviews of some of the author's favorite B movies.)

On technical matters, Just XML exposes some XML features such as XLink and XPointers, as well as cascading style sheets. The author surveys some of the tools that let you work with XML right now. This guide combines good technical knowledge with a winning approach to an important and powerful Internet standard. --Richard Dragan ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Useless for learning anything
I've not yet run across an XML book that offers really good training. Creating your own XML tags is child's play, but good skill with DTDs and XSL is needed, as well as other applications of XML. Because a book has a limit on thickness, the covering of each XML application is spread too thin in XML books.

I took a look through the "just XML" book, expecing more. I don't want someone to provide a thin coverage of just enough information to allow me to determine they know something somewhat. I want them to explain, and provide good examples and applications to work myself. Skill-building comes through 'hands on' training, not through a thin coverage about each application of XML.

I'm learning alot about how to create valid XML documents, with long complex DTDs, but couldn't learn anything from this book. I recommend a 'how to' book with hands on practices.

Improperly named book
Writers of Perl and XML books think that they're comedians.Hint: they're not.If I want some laughs I'll watch an old episode of Seinfeld-not buy this XML book.

This book's title and the author's comments suggest that you can learn XML from his book without already knowing HTML.In fact, he tells the reader to "put away the wheelbarrows full of knowledge and predispositions you may have acquired about SGML, HTML ..." (page xi).And on the following page Simpson states that "in order to understand and use XML productively" you don't have to know anything about SGML or HTML.He's correct.But if you want to learn XML from 'this book' you do have to really know them.With everything he discusses, he does so by making reference to HTML.Thus the book is totally resistant to comprehension without this prior knowledge.In fact, a more appropriate title would be "XML for those who thoroughly know HTML"

Under the new premises, this book is still way below average.

A waste of time
I tried to read this book for a project I'm working on, but found this book is full of useless contents, which confused me and wasted my time. A year ago, I took a train class of XML, and am quite familiar with the technology. I don't recommand anyone to read this book, except those who mean to spend their spare time. ... Read more

Isbn: 0139434178
Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computer Networks    3. Computer Programming Languages    4. Computers    5. Programming Languages - General    6. XML (Document markup language)   

Statistical Science in the Courtroom
by Joseph L. Gastwirth
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (15 January, 2000)
list price: $64.95 -- our price: $40.92
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Reviews (1)

wonderful examples of statisticians being expert witnesses
Ever since the legal cases against the Census Bureau in 1980, statisticians have played a much more visible role testifying and providing depositions in legal cases.Due to the adversarial role lawyers play in trials we are seeing each side pit their expert statistician against the other.Many times the statistical evidence is confusing to the jury and/or the judges and the testimony tends to cancel out with verdicts being decided by other means.It is important to keep things simple.In the case about undercount adjustment for the Census in 1980, eminent statisticians argued on both sides.There was no right or wrong answer.Everything hinged on what statistical models you are willing to believe.Unfortunately, such cases revive the old adages that make statisticians kringe, "you can prove anything with statistics" and "lies, damn lies and statistics".

With the advent of DNA evidence, statisticians are asked to compute matching probablities to determine the likelihood that a suspect is the person whose DNA was found at the crime scene.The results can be overwhelming but even a statistician with expertise in DNA matching can be tripped up by clever high priced lawyers.Such was the case when Bruce Weir testified on national television in the O. J. Simpson case.

Joe Gastwirth has contributed to the statistical research applied to legal problems over the past 20 years at least and he has published a book on the subject. In this volume, he compiles a number of case stories and statistical issues in legal cases told by many very capable statisticians including Alan Izenman, Jay Kadane, Bruce Weir, Seymour Geisser, Don Rubin, Joe Gastwirth himself,David Pollard and Scott Zeger.These are all fascinating tales that will especially be appreciated by lawyers and statisticians.But this is also worthwhile reading for the general public. Read the preface, where Gastwirth gives you a synopsis of these articles.

One of my favorites is the article by Seymour Geisser who tells a sad tale about how statistical issues relating to problems in the analysis of DNA evidence is covered up by the FBI.This is taken to the extent of influencing the refereeing process for journal publications, a shocking tale!

Unfortunately even though DNA evidence can be as conclusive as a fingerprint, human error in processing the evidence can create doubt about the matching process or even pursuade a jury that evidence was planted or a defendant frame.Such things are possible and defense lawyers now exist who are up to the task of creating such doubt as was done masterfully by Johnny Cochran and Barry Scheck in the O.J. trial. ... Read more

Isbn: 0387989978
Sales Rank: 672561
Subjects:  1. Applied    2. Evidence    3. Evidence, Expert    4. Forensic Medicine    5. Forensic Science    6. Forensic statistics    7. Judicial Process    8. Law    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Medical    11. Probability & Statistics - General    12. Mathematics / Statistics   

SQL for Dummies 3rd Edition
by Allen G. Taylor
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 July, 1998)
list price: $24.99
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Editorial Review

This is the rare case of a book that can take you from a beginner to an advanced-intermediate level. Likemany of the books in IDG's Dummies series, this volume begins with a definition ("What is SQL?") andends with "The Part of Tens," a collection of tips in a top ten list form. Taylor writes in a breezy,entertaining style that SQL novices will find inviting. One caveat: The examples are given in Borland'sDelphi, a rapid application development (RAD) tool. Some sections show several screen shots from Delphiand it may be difficult to follow along in these sections if you don't have the program in front of you. Aswith other Dummies books, SQL for Dummies is entertaining to read although the nonstop jokesmay distract some readers from the technical content. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Great Intro to Access SQL, Only two Problems
This is a book that I really wish that I'd had when I first started doing a web application that was to use an Access database for the backend data. I looked at a lot of Access books, but none of them went into Access SQL. For that alone this book is worth five stars.

This book starts with a bit of discussion on the fundamentals of a relational database, but not too much. After all, this is covered in all the Access books. It quickly gets into the fundamentals of SQL itself.

I was a bit concerned when he started using the Microsoft graphical design tools to create the database, but he quickly went into using SQL CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE commands. From there on he went on to a reasonable complete but elementary discussion on using most the the rest of SQL.

You gotta have a few complaints, so:

There is discussion in the book, including a list of reserved words for SQL:2003. But Access doesn't talk SQL:2003. It doesn't even talk SQL:92, it's an extended SQL:89. A list of Access reserved words would have been nice.

He doesn't talk about the two database engines in Access, Jet and MSDE; and these two engines speak very different dialects of SQL.

All that it claims to be
I like to start off projects with simple concepts and a few examples to get off the ground.Well this book does just that.Unfortunately I would also like to have some example of input and output.I chose this book because it was not database specific, as I am converting files from an Informix database, through a filter, to a flat file, for later conversion to an Oracle database, with a different structure.Unfortunately this book (being universal) has no universal explanation as to how to get information from a flat file in or out of the database.First you have to find the term they use, not ASCII, not flat, not import, not export, not not not.The term is found in chapter 7 "foreign." The explanation on how to do this is to "...turn to one of the professional data translation services." Great, just what I wanted to know.

Its Great
This book was just a good as my University's suggested text book. If you need to know something regarding SQL, it is IN HERE. Definitely worth checking out, you won't have regret or be disappointed. ... Read more

Isbn: 0764504150
Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Database    2. Computers    3. Database management    4. Programming Languages - SQL    5. Relational Databases    6. SQL (Computer program language)    7. Sql (Programming Language)    8. Database software    9. Databases & data structures    10. SQL