快猫短视频

YOU might think that prior to the 20th century, 鈥減iracy鈥� only referred to nautical shenanigans. But English stationers in the 17th century labelled colleagues who printed unauthorised versions of other people鈥檚 work 鈥渓and-pirats鈥�.

Adrian Johns鈥檚 weighty history fills the years since with quotable anecdotes and lively portraits of wily information thieves who copied everything from telephone network codes to an entire electronics company. Along the way he assembles a good body of evidence to support the idea that the urge to 鈥渂orrow鈥� information is a core part of human nature, even if the means of doing so have changed over the years.

Now, Johns sees Google鈥檚 move to digitise the world鈥檚 books and the growing open access movement in science publishing as hints that we are on the brink of an intellectual-property revolution. Plus 莽a change.