Chokepoint Capitalism

Provocative What makes this book so refreshing is that it never lets its reader off the hook I see it as a kind of manual that will arm you with the technical knowhow (and the confidence) to demand more. -- Kitty Drake * The Guardian * Nerdy, sharp, radical, and readable. -- Tim Harford * Financial Times * Chokepoint Capitalism tells us how the vampires crashed the party, and provides protective garlic. -- Margaret Atwood, author of <em>The Handmaids Tale</em> A welcome intervention. -- Oscar Williams * New Statesman * We all know something is wrong about every click, stream, and purchase we make unfairly depriving value creators of their worth, while enriching the wealthiest and most extractive entities in human history. Instead of just complaining about the corporate stranglehold over production and exchange, Giblin and Doctorow show us why this happened, how it works, and what we can do about it. An infuriating yet inspiring call to collective action. -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of <i>Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus</i> and <i>Survival of the Richest</i> An urgent, profound, and approachable take on what it's going to take to save our culture. If you care about books, movies, or music, read this book right now. And share a copy with a friend. -- Seth Godin, author of <i>The Practice</i> Chokepoint Capitalism is not just a fascinating tour of the hidden mechanics of the platform era, from Spotify playlists to Prince's name change, but a compelling agenda to break Big Tech's hold. It presents a clear new way to think about corporate power and a path to taking that power back for cultural creators and all of us. -- Eli Pariser, author of <i>The Filter Bubble</i> and cofounder of Avaaz The great myth of the American economy is that it rewards creators and producers. But Chokepoint Capitalism dares to tell the real story of how it actually rewards the all-powerful middlemen fleecing both workers and consumers. This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who senses that the predominant economic mythology is a lie, who wants to know what's really happening in this economy and who is ready to finally start fixing the problem. -- David Sirota, writer of <i>Don't Look Up</i> and founder of The Lever [A] lucid and damning expos of how big business captured the culture markets Interwoven with maddening tales of exploitation are detailed discussions of statutory licensing reform, copyright infringement detection systems, and other technical matters The books broad scope, expert policy recommendations, and flashes of wit make it a must-read for anyone involved in these industries. -- <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review Giblin and Doctorow persuasively argue that copyright cant unrig a rigged market for that you need worker power, antitrust, and solidarity. -- Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia I loved this book It helps us all see the locks and chains, and the ways to chisel through them. -- Zephyr Teachout, law professor and author of <em>Corruption in America</em> and <em>Break Em Up</em> Creators are being ground up by the modern culture industries, with little choice but to participate in markets Giblin and Doctorow show why, and offer a range of powerful strategies for fighting back. -- Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School Capitalism doesnt work without competition. Giblin and Doctorow impressively show the extent to which thats been lost throughout the creative industries, and how this pattern threatens every other worker. -- Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist A tome for the times The revolution will not be spotified! -- Christopher Coe, artist and cofounder of Awesome Soundwave Chokepoint Capitali

Rebecca Giblin is an ARC Future Fellow and professor at Melbourne Law School, where she leads interdisciplinary teams researching issues around creators rights, access to knowledge, and the regulation of technology and culture. She is director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA), and heads up the Authors Interest and eLending projects (authorsinterest.org; elendingproject.org), as well as Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project (untapped.org.au). Chokepoint Capitalism is her latest book. She also wrote Code Wars and co-edited What if we could reimagine copyright?. Follow her on Twitter (@rgibli) Cory Doctorow is a bestselling science fiction writer and activist. He is a special adviser to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, with whom he has worked for 20 years. He is also a visiting professor of computer science at the Open University (UK) and of library science at the University of North Carolina. He is also a MIT Media Lab research affiliate. He co-founded the UK Open Rights Group and co-owns the website Boing Boing. He is the author of more than 20 books, including novels for adults and young adults, graphic novels for middle-grade readers, picture books, nonfiction books on technology and politics, and collections of essays. Follow him on Twitter (@doctorow).