Coding Freedom: The Ethics And Aesthetics Of Hacking

Description

Who are computer hackers? What is free software? And what does the emergence of a community dedicated to the production of free and open source software — and to hacking as a technical, aesthetic, and moral project — reveal about the values of contemporary liberalism? Exploring the rise and political significance of the free and open source software (F/OSS) movement in the United States and Europe, Coding Freedom details the ethics behind hackers’ devotion to F/OSS, the social codes that guide its production, and the political struggles through which hackers question the scope and direction of copyright and patent law. In telling the story of the F/OSS movement, the book unfolds a broader narrative involving computing, the politics of access, and intellectual property. E. Gabriella Coleman tracks the ways in which hackers collaborate and examines passionate manifestos, hacker humor, free software project governance, and festive hacker conferences. Looking at the ways that hackers sustain their productive freedom, Coleman shows that these activists, driven by a commitment to their work, reformulate key ideals including free speech, transparency, and meritocracy, and refuse restrictive intellectual protections. Coleman demonstrates how hacking, so often marginalized or misunderstood, sheds light on the continuing relevance of liberalism in online collaboration. Cover Half title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction | A Tale of Two Worlds A Liberal Critique Within Liberalism Fieldwork Among Hackers The Aesthetics Of Hacking On Representing Hacker Ethics Omissions And Chapter Overview A Liberal Critique Within Liberalism Fieldwork Among Hackers On Representing Hacker Ethics Omissions And Chapter Overview Part I | Histories 1 | The Life of a Free Software Hacker The Basic "Specs" Of A Lifeworld The Thousand-Mile Journey Stars With A Personal Computer Meeting Other Hackers On BBSs The Internet Free Software Unix As "Our Gilgamesh Epic" "Someone Must Brew The Beer" Free Software In The Workplace Free Software Spreads The Hacker Con As Lifeworld The Social Metabolism Of A Typical Developer Con Conclusion 2 | A Tale of Two Legal Regimes A Politics Of Hope 1970–1984: The Commodification Of Software 1984–1991: Hacking And Its Discontents 1991–1998: Silent Revolutions 1998–2004: Triumph Of Open Source And Ominous DMCA Conclusion Part II | Codes of Value 3 | The Craft and Craftiness of Hacking Hacker Pragmatics Hacker Cleverness Communal Populism And Individual Elitism Just Freedom Conclusion 4 | Two Ethical Moments in Debian Debian And Its Social Organization Social Charters Amd Governance Two Moments Of Ethical Cultivation Building Trust Through The NMP Crisis And Ethical Renewal Portrait Of A Crisis Part III | The Politics of avowal ad disavowal 5 | Code Is Speech The Ethics Of Legal Contrast "Living Out Legal Meaning" Poetic Protest Free Dmitry! Conclusion Conclusion | The Cultural Critique of Intellectual Property Law The Political Agnosticism Of F/OSS Three Moments Of Translation Ope-Source Circulation Within Capital: IBM Alternatives To Capitalism: IMCs Liberal Commons And Limits To Capital The Politics Of Defamiliarization Epilogue | How to Proliferate Distinctions, Not Destroy Them Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Conclusion Epilogue References Index