"Can we be altogether happy knowing that groups with whom we have never had any personal, professional, or economic relationship can buy, sell, or trade lengthy and detailed public records that provide the purchaser with almost instant access to everything about us, from our daily travel patterns to our medical profiles, to our financial records?" Branscomb points out how this "unhappy" situation has evolved. She shows how supposedly private information can be accessed and networked to create vast public records. Personal choices, from video selections to religious practices, instantly become part of a public dossier. In some cases it is essential to acquire large data banks--for example, so that health-care and financial systems can meet genuine needs. In other instances, access to and distribution of such information can be abused. Branscomb not only discusses what kinds of information are accumulated, but offers possible legal solutions regarding the often difficult questions of ownership--the "property rights"--of information. ~--Denise Perry Donavin

This is an unusually informative and well-written discussion of the difficulties and complexities that arise when law confronts overwhelming technological change. Three traditional bodies of law (First Amendment, copyright, and privacy) are analyzed in terms of the ownership, regulation, and control of bits of information now existing in spaces or places that simply did not occur in former times. Telephone numbers, medical histories, photographic and digital images, electronic messages, video tapes, and computer software are among parts of the "infostructure" Branscomb considers. Mechanisms used to consider the issues of privacy and ownership are found wanting in part because the bodies of law that seem to deal with ownership and privacy have been rapidly outdistanced by technological change. The book concludes with an interesting set of legal ideas that might begin to form the principles of a "law of information assets". Branscomb believes in the need for firms and authors to be compensated for intellectual property and in people having a property right to information which is personal. This point of view is nicely illustrated throughout in what should become an extremely popular book. It belongs on the shelves of every library and is very highly recommended. E. Lewis; New College of the University of South Florida

Legal battles pitting individuals seeking privacy against information-based businesses have erupted over unwanted direct-mail solicitations, intrusive telemarketing phone calls and personal medical reports. Harvard-based policy analyst and lawyer Branscomb tackles these and other issues in a valuable, succinct guide to struggles over information assets in our electronic world. In nine case studies, she delves into fuzzy legal areas such as the new realm of electronic messages (e-mail, online information networks), protection of computer software, privacy issues engendered by the advent of Caller ID phone services and the clash between backyard satellite dish owners and cable TV programmers who scramble their images. Chapters also cover the rights to videocassettes and photographs, the federal government's computerized databases and scholars' struggle to gain access to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Demonstrating the glaring inadequacy of current laws to protect information assets and to safeguard individuals' rights, Branscomb urges readers to voice their concerns to their elected representatives so that more comprehensive and humane laws can be passed. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

What could be, to put it mildly, an extremely dry and confusing topic-the rights of persons both to access information and to maintain private ownership of it at the same time-has instead become the basis of an engrossing volume. Communications lawyer Branscomb focuses on several questions of information access, showing how personal rights conflict with those of society and what remedies should be available. She confronts problems that everyone can identify with in such areas as direct mail and telephone marketing, credit reports, and medical and personal records. The author then moves on to computer software and, in the most fascinating and thought-provoking chapter, religious information (who really owns the Dead Sea Scrolls? Can they be copyrighted?). Extremely well researched with an abundance of citations to statutes and major cases, yet immensely absorbing and written for lay readers, this is highly recommended for all collections.-Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A masterful introduction to the issues of ownership of and access to data in the fast-arriving information age, complete with suggestions for needed legislative and judicial reform. The US is becoming an information-dominated culture, and technological innovations of the last two decades have outstripped the ability of our laws to resolve the problems that arise from them. Branscomb, a Harvard-based policy analyst, outlines the issues--many of them far-reaching and clearly in want of attention--surrounding control of the masses of information now being collected and disseminated. These include such apparently innocent data as names, addresses, and telephone numbers (which feed the multibillion-dollar mail-order and telephone-service industries); medical histories (a national health database proposed by Clinton would help in the elimination of some diseases but would sacrifice privacy); personal electronic messages (which some companies presume a right to censor); and the mountains of information gathered by the government (should government agencies sell such data or turn them over to privileged companies and individuals to sell themselves?). Branscomb rigorously assays the nuances of these and other complex and far-reaching issues (junk mail and computer messages, for example, level forests, overburden telephone and mail services, even raise taxes). She gives us access to the new argot of technological development--terms like ``encrypment'' and ``decompilation.'' It's Branscomb's contention, finally, that these issues are too important to leave to politicians, lawyers, and corporate heads. For newcomers to such issues--which almost all of us are- -this brief, rigorous investigation will prove extremely useful in establishing positions and politicking for reforms.