Summer Reading: Fairfield on Property Law and Digital Ownership

If you're looking for some interesting summer reading, I highly recommend that you check out a new book by Joshua A.T. Fairfield (Washington & Lee) titled Owned: Property, Privacy, and the New Digital Serfdom (coming out at the end of this month by Cambridge University Press). I've had the pleasure of reading portions of this project over the past few years, and I've constantly been impressed by Joshua's way of exploring the role that technology is playing in our conceptions of property while at the same time really engaging with the theories of property. The topics discussed in this book are incredibly timely (particular in the age of ransomware and international hacking) as much of our identity and the business of our daily lives takes place online. Here's some excerpts from the book's summary:

In this compelling examination of the intersection of smart technology and the law, Joshua A. T. Fairfield explains the crisis of digital ownership - how and why we no longer control our smartphones or software-enable devices, which are effectively owned by software and content companies. In two years we will not own our 'smart' televisions which will also be used by advertisers to listen in to our living rooms. In the coming decade, if we do not take back our ownership rights, the same will be said of our self-driving cars and software-enabled homes. We risk becoming digital peasants, owned by software and advertising companies, not to mention overreaching governments. . . Owned explains how the increasing implementation of smart technology in our world today has changed the nature of property. Fairfield explains property theory and the legal regime of online ownership as it ties to the 'Internet of Things' - the interconnected system of digital technology as controlled by corporations who own the software needed to run these devices. . . .Owned should be read by anyone wanting to know more about the loss of our property rights, the implications for our privacy rights and how we can regain control of both.

If you want to read more of Joshua's work, click here. Happy reading!