A powerful and urgent call to action: to improve our lives and our societies, we must demand open access to data for all.
Information is power, and the time is now for digital liberation. Access Rules mounts a strong and hopeful argument for how informational tools at present in the hands of a few could instead become empowering machines for everyone. By forcing data-hoarding companies to open access to their data, we can reinvigorate both our economy and our society. Authors Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Thomas Ramge contend that if we disrupt monopoly power and create a level playing field, digital innovations can emerge to benefit us all.
Over the past twenty years, Big Tech has managed to centralize the most relevant data on their servers, as data has become the most important raw material for innovation. However, dominant oligopolists like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, in contrast with their reputation as digital pioneers, are actually slowing down innovation and progress by withholding data for the benefit of their shareholders––at the expense of customers, the economy, and society. As Access Rules compellingly argues, ultimately it is up to us to force information giants, wherever they are located, to open their treasure troves of data to others. In order for us to limit global warming, contain a virus like COVID-19, or successfully fight poverty, everyone—including citizens and scientists, start-ups and established companies, as well as the public sector and NGOs—must have access to data. When everyone has access to the informational riches of the data age, the nature of digital power will change. Information technology will find its way back to its original purpose: empowering all of us to use information so we can thrive as individuals and as societies.
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the University of Oxford.
Thomas Ramge has authored more than fifteen books about technology, innovation, and decision-making and has won numerous publishing awards.
"Openness is the absolute key to innovation. Read this book on how to kick-start data-driven innovation and rein in Big Tech monopolies."—Katharina Borchert, former Chief Innovation Officer at Mozilla and Cofounder of Equilibrio
"Access Rules is a manifesto for mandating broad access to data—or open data. Freeing data from today’s digital monopolies, the authors argue, will increase transparency, empower small producers, and accelerate innovation. This powerful vision deserves the attention of scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in democratizing access to information."—AnnaLee Saxenian, Professor, School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley
"Data protection in the style of General Data Protection Regulation produces warm feelings and also stifles innovation. Access Rules call for greater access to data, which will better for those living on the margins."—Rohan Samarajiva, former Chair of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and Data, Algorithms, and Policy Lead at LIRNEasia
"Highly readable, engaging, and important, Access Rules explores why we need to compel tech giants to make the data they collect freely available. A must-read for anyone wanting to understand the future of the global information economy."—Beth Simone Noveck, Director, The Governance Lab
"Access Rules is simultaneously a practical guide to taming Big Tech's power and a profound contribution to the political economy of digitalization. Written in a brisk and accessible style, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in a positive-sum future for global information flows."—Frank Pasquale, author of The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information
“This book is an urgent and provocative call for bold, creative thinking about asymmetries of power and the source of power—data itself. It should occupy scholars and policy makers around the world as we debate the best ways to curb some of the most dangerous monopolists we have ever let grow.”—Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
220 pp.5.5 x 8.25
9780520387737$24.95|£21.00Hardcover
Apr 2022