Silent Theft

David Bollier contends that the large-scale seizure and misuse of resources held in common is a major story of our era, and one that rarely gets told. Companies are steadily taking possession of assets that belong to everyone. These include medical discoveries paid for with public money, software developed as shared innovation, the broadcast spectrum, works that have entered the public domain, and the genetic material of plants, animals and people. In many cases, the government either ignores this process or actively helps transfer these assets to private hands.

Bollier argues that the loss has largely escaped notice because people have stopped recognizing what the commons is. Through a series of troubling examples, he connects arguments about the Internet, the environment, biotechnology and the communications revolution. His sharp critique sheds light on an area of political and cultural life that has received little attention.