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BOOKS,
EXPERTS AND ORGANIZATIONS
THE
COMMONS Diverted
by the metaphor of "the tragedy of the commons," Americans frequently
do not recognize how human cooperation can in fact generate remarkable economic
and social wealth. The commons often defies the standard economic narrative about
self-interested utility maximization. "Gift economies" are one means
by which a common asset can be successfully managed in an open, collaborative
manner. Examples include academic disciplines, Internet communities, community
organizations, and democratic self-governance itself. It
is difficult to make broad generalizations about the commons because each bears
the distinctive imprint of its own resource domain, culture, history, legal system
and scale of operation. That said, some of the general principles that tend to
prevail in successful American commons include: openness and feedback, shared
decisionmaking, diversity of perspectives, social equity among members of the
commons, environmental sustainability and community vitality. Leading
Thinkers & Their Books The
Commons Buck,
Susan J., The Global Commons: An Introduction (Island Press, 1998). Cahn,
Edgard and Jonathan Rowe, Time Dollars (Rodale Press, 1992). Ecologist,
The [magazine], Whose Common Future? Reclaiming the Commons (New Society
Publishers, 1993). Hyde,
Lewis, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property (Vintage Books,
1979). McCay,
Bonnie J. and James M. Acheson, eds., The Question of the Commons (University
of Arizona Press, 1986). Ostrom,
Elinor, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective
Action (Cambridge University Press, 1990). Stevenson,
Glenn, Common Property Economics (Cambridge University Press, 1991). Yes!
magazine, Summer 2001 issue. Property
Rights & Commodification Alexander,
Gregory, Commodity and Propriety: Competing Visions of property in American
Legal Thought (University of Chicago Press, 1997). Fried,
Barbara, The Progressive Assault of Laissez Faire: Robert Hale and the First
Law and Economics Movement (Harvard University Press, 1998). Hirsch,
Fred, Social Limits to Growth (Excel, 1999). Kuttner,
Robert, Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets (Knopf,
1997). Polanyi,
Karl, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Times
(Beacon Press, 1944, 1957). Radin,
Margaret Jane, Contested Commodities (Harvard University Press, 1996).
Rose, Carol,
Property and Persuasion: Essays on the History, Theory and Rhetoric of Ownership
(Westview Press, 1994). Out-of-print but worth the search. Steinberg,
Theodore, Slide Mountain or the Folly of Owning Nature (University of California
Press, 1995). NATURAL
RESOURCES ON PUBLIC LANDS Not
many Americans realize that they collectively own one-third of the nation's surface
area and millions of acres of public lands richly endowed with minerals, oil,
forests, grasslands and other natural resources. The government's stewardship
of these resources, however, represents one of the great scandals of the 20th
Century. Through antiquated laws, poor enforcement, slipshod administration and
environmental indifference, industry users of the public's natural resources have
sought cheap and unrestricted access. Public
Policy Advocates Green
Scissors Campaign: environmentally destructive corporate subsidies. Mineral
Policy Center: reform of 1872 Mining Act. Project
on Government Oversight (POGO): oil leasing. Sierra
Club: logging on federal lands. U.S.
Public Interest Research Group: grazing on federal lands. Environmental
Policy Center: Takings Movement, ownership of wildlife, federal litigation
to protect environment. Sky
Trust: champion of stakeholder trust for carbon emissions pollution rights. Worthwhile
Books Barlow,
Maude, Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World's
Water [report], (International Forum on Globalization, 1999). Barnes,
Peter, Who Owns the Sky? Our Common Assets the Future of Capitalism (Island
Press, 2001). Baskin,
Yvonne, The Work of Nature: How the Diversity of Life Sustains Use (Island
Press, 1997). Echeverria,
John, and Raymond Booth Eby, Let the People Judge: Wise Use and the Private
Property Rights Movement (Island Press, 1995). Hawken,
Paul, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (HarperBusiness,
1993). Hirt,
Paul W., A Conspiracy of Optimism: Management of the National Forests Since
World War Two (University of Nebraska Press, 1994). Lovins,
Amory, Natural Capitalism Mayer,
Carl J. and George A. Riley, Public Domain, Private Dominion: A History of
Public Mineral Policy in America (Sierra Club Books, 1985). Power,
Thomas Michael, Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: The Search for a Value
of Place (Island Press, 1996). Steen,
Harold K., The U.S. Forest Service: A History (University of Washington
Press, 1976). Leading
Thinkers Joseph
Sax: his law review articles on public trust doctrine were seminal. Carol
Rose, Yale Law School: property law and its history, public trust doctrine
John
Echeverria, Environmental Policy Project: opposition to Takings Movement.
Amory
Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute: sustainable market practices, "natural
capitalism" THE
INTERNET AND THE AIRWAVES Taxpayers
supported the research and protocols that eventually resulted in the Internet,
and the public is the owner of the electromagnetic spectrum that makes possible
broadcasting, wireless communication and other markets. Historically, however,
business interests have prevailed upon Congress to give them free or discounted
ownership or use of these public assets. Furthermore, the public's interests in
non-commercial uses of these assets - for civic dialogue, community needs, arts
and culture, education, public health - have generally been thwarted.
Groups Center
for Media Education: children's educational television, open broadband Internet
access. Center
for Digital Democracy: open access, Internet Consumers
Union: cable television regulation, access to online music Consumer
Project on Technology: consumer rights in e-commerce, ICANN, international
intellectual property policy, patents Electronic
Frontier Foundation: free speech on the Internet, other digital issues Future
of Music Coalition: creative rights of independent musicians ICANN
Watch: democratic access and openness at ICANN Media
Access Project: citizen access, media concentration, FCC oversight of communications
industries NetAction:
citizen activism, Internet access World
Wide Web Consortium: open standards, interoperability and universal access
to the Internet architecture Worthwhile
Books Abbate,
Janet, Inventing the Internet (MIT Press, 2000). Lessig,
Lawrence, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (Basic Books, 1999). McChesney,
Robert W., Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times
(University of Illinois Press, 1999). Newman,
Nathan, Net
Loss: Government, Technology and the Political Economy of Community in the Age
of the Internet Leading
Experts Lawrence
Lessig, Stanford Law: Internet architecture, transparent technology, intellectual
property in digital information Yochai
Benkler, NYU Law: information commons in spectrum, free speech in digital
arenas James
Boyle, Duke Law: information commons, intellectual property Pamela
Samuelson Jessica
Litman David
Lange J.H.
Reichman THE
INFORMATION COMMONS The
information commons is the civic and cultural space in which we share information,
creativity and ideas. Radical changes in technology, intellectual property law,
market structures and social practice are shrinking the information commons, however.
At risk: creative expression, free speech, academic research and technological
innovation. Groups Center
for the Public Domain: information commons, transparent technologies, intellectual
property law, open and interoperable Internet. Consumer
Project on Technology: e-commerce and the public interest, pharmaceutical
and business methods patents; ICANN; Microsoft. Electronic
Frontier Foundation: free speech on the Internet, other digital issues. Also,
EFF's Open Audio License. Copyright's
Commons (Berkman Center): Copyright Extension Act, copyright and the public
interest. American
Library Association: Digital Millennium Copyright Act, UCITA, and full range
of copyright issues. Digital
Future Coalition: Digital Millennium Copyright Act, UCITA. ACLU:
free speech, privacy and censorship on Internet. Electronic
Privacy Information Center: privacy issues in various digital contexts. Slashdot:
freedom of innovation in software development, free speech, public access and
use of digital information. Books Boyle,
James, Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information
Society (Harvard University Press, 1996). Brown,
John Seely and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information (Harvard Business
School Press, 2000). Coombe,
Rosemary J., The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropriation
and the Law (Duke University Press, 1998). Litman,
Jessica, Digital Copyright (Prometheus Press, 2001). National
Research Council, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information
Age (National Academy Press, 2000). Patterson,
L. Ray and Stanley W. Lindberg, The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users' Rights
(University of Georgia Press, 1991). Shulman,
Seth, Owning the Future (Houghton Mifflin, 1999). FEDERAL
RESEARCH AND INFORMATION RESOURCES Until
the late 1970s, federally sponsored R&D was considered a public resource that
should be liberally shared with the public and other researchers. Since 1980,
after a concerted campaign by business, the U.S. Government now forfeits billions
of dollars in revenues by allowing companies and universities to own research
and patents financed by taxpayers. Not only does the public fail to get a fair
return on its investments, companies are often free to charge exorbitant prices
for their drugs, software and other products. Meanwhile, mountains of valuable
government reports, databases, congressional documents and other information resources
are inaccessible to the public or ridiculously expensive.
Groups OMB
Watch: access to government information Congressional
Accountability Project Leading
Experts Gary
Bass, OMB Watch Patricia
McDermott, OMB Watch James
P. Love, Consumer Project on
Technology Gary
Ruskin, Congressional
Accountability Project PUBLIC
SPACES AND THE CULTURAL COMMONS Not
so long ago it was customary for there to be commercial-free zones in daily life.
No more. Market exploitation of public spaces, civic institutions and shared cultural
traditions has reached grotesque new extremes. Captive audiences in elevators,
airport lounges and bathrooms are new targets for advertisers, and millions of
school children are force-fed commercial messages during school hours. Other revered
non-commercial institutions such as public broadcasting, journalism, the Olympics
and more have been transformed into crass marketing platforms.
Groups Adbusters
Commercial
Alert Jeremy
Rifkin, Foundation on Economic Trends Center
for Commercial-Free Public Education Project
for Public Spaces Books Adbusters
magazine (Vancouver, Canada). Frank,
Robert, One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism and the End
of Economic Democracy (Doubleday, 2000). Klein,
Naomi, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Picador, 1999). Lane,
Robert, The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies (Yale University Press,
2000). Lasn, Kalle,
Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America (William Morrow & Co., 1999). Project
for Public Spaces, How to Turn a Place Around: A Handbook for Creating Successful
Public Spaces (2000). Rifkin,
Jeremy, The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism Where All of
Life is a Paid-for Experience (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2000). Savan,
Leslie, The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV and American Culture (Temple University
Press, 1994). INITIATIVES
TO RECLAIM THE COMMONS While
market enclosures are plentiful, a movement to reclaim the American commons is
launching a variety of creative new initiatives. The efforts span a broad spectrum
of stopping the giveaway of taxpayer-owned resources, creating stakeholder trusts
that pay dividends to all citizens, and capturing capital gains from public infrastructure.
There are also efforts to develop new legal vehicles to help various commons retain
the surplus value that they generate. Other visionaries are creating new institutional
vehicles for shared community ownership and cooperatives, new local commons regimes
for managing finite natural resources, and new Internet vehicles for sharing and
collaboration. Stakeholder
Trusts Sky
Trust Alaska
Permanent Trust Digital
Opportunity Trust .Us
proposal, Benton Foundation Online
Collaborations Public
Library of Science iBiblio Free
Software Foundation Open
Source Software Linux
M.I.T's
OpenCourseWare Los
Alamos National Research Laboratory Archive Vehicles
for Common Ownership Coop
America The
ESOP Association Land
Trust Alliance Time
Dollars Groups
Studying the Commons Redefining
Progress Corporation
for Enterprise Development Terra
Civitas IASCP,
International Association for the Study of Common Property Worthwhile
Books DiBona,
Chris, Sam Ockman & Mark Stone, Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source
Revolution (O'Reilley & Associates, 1999). Donahue,
Brian, Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England
Town (Yale University Press, 1999). Gates,
Jeff, The Ownership Solution: Toward a Shared Capitalism for the Twenty-First
Century (Perseus Books, 1999). Hock,
Dee, Birth of the Chaordic Age (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1999). Kim,
Amy Jo, Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online
Communities (Peachpit Press, 2000). Yes!
Magazine, Summer 2001 issue on the commons
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