Even more than authorship, ownership is challenged by the rise of digital and computational methods of design and production. These challenges are simultaneously legal, ethical and economic. How are new methods of fabrication and manufacture going to irreversibly change not only ways of working, but also designers’ ethics and their stance on ownership? In his 2013 second-term State of the Union address, President Obama stated that 3D printing ‘has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything’. Nowhere will the impact of 3D printing be felt greater than in the architectural and design communities. When anyone can print out an object or structure from a digital file, will designers still exert the same creative rights or will they need to develop new practice and payment models? As architecture becomes more collaborative with open-source processes, will the emphasis on signature as the basis of ownership remain relevant? How will wider teams working globally be accredited and compensated? This issue of AD explores this subject; it features the work of designers who are developing wholly new approaches to practice by exploring means of commercialising process-based products rather than objects. Contributors: Phil Bernstein, Mark Garcia, Antoine Picon, Carlo Ratti and David Ruy Featured architects: Francis Bitonti, Marjan Colletti, Wendy W Fok, Panagiotis Michalatos, Jose Sanchez, Thibault Schwartz, Aaron Sprecher, Feng Xu and Philip Yuan

An argument for retaining the notion of personal property in the products we “buy” in the digital marketplace. If you buy a book at the bookstore, you own it. You can take it home, scribble in the margins, put in on the shelf, lend it to a friend, sell it at a garage sale. But is the same thing true for the ebooks or other digital goods you buy? Retailers and copyright holders argue that you don't own those purchases, you merely license them. That means your ebook vendor can delete the book from your device without warning or explanation—as Amazon deleted Orwell's 1984 from the Kindles of surprised readers several years ago. These readers thought they owned their copies of 1984. Until, it turned out, they didn't. In The End of Ownership, Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz explore how notions of ownership have shifted in the digital marketplace, and make an argument for the benefits of personal property. Of course, ebooks, cloud storage, streaming, and other digital goods offer users convenience and flexibility. But, Perzanowski and Schultz warn, consumers should be aware of the tradeoffs involving user constraints, permanence, and privacy. The rights of private property are clear, but few people manage to read their end user agreements. Perzanowski and Schultz argue that introducing aspects of private property and ownership into the digital marketplace would offer both legal and economic benefits. But, most important, it would affirm our sense of self-direction and autonomy. If we own our purchases, we are free to make whatever lawful use of them we please. Technology need not constrain our freedom; it can also empower us.

Owned provides a legal analysis of the legal, social, and technological developments that have driven an erosion of property rights in the digital context.

As the use of electronic networks becomes more ubiquitous in the cultural and educational community, issues of management, communication, and distribution increase in complexity. Within this digital environment, options and strategies regarding an institution’s intellectual and cultural property take on critical importance. Introduction to Managing Digital Assets reviews the traditions of rights administration and content distribution in various creative sectors, and identifies common structures and functions within these organizations. The book explores the relationships among the provider, the rightsholder, and the user, highlighting issues of particular relevance to cultural and educational communities. The Introduction to series acquaints professionals and students with the complex issues and technologies in the production, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage information resources.

This key textbook examines the financial growth and success of digital assets in the contemporary economy. As digital assets and other blockchain applications mature, and regulatory authorities work hard to keep pace, three leading attorneys in the field invite students to consider the legal frameworks pertinent to regulating this new method of exchange. In this, the first textbook of its kind, the authors explore the growth of smart contracts, the application of securities laws to token sales, the regulation of virtual currency businesses, the taxation of digital assets and the intersection of digital assets and criminal law.

This book contains a collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the Eleventh Biennial Modern Studies in Property Law Conference held at Queen's University Belfast in April 2016. It is the ninth volume to be published under the name of the Conference. The Conference and its published proceedings have become an established forum for property lawyers from around the world to showcase current research in the discipline. This collection reflects the diversity and contemporary relevance of modern research in property law. Following a foreword from the keynote speaker at the Conference, Queen's alumnus Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, the chapters address a range of issues, from the nature of land law and property rights, through claims to the home and digital assets, to the growing debate on the nature of public property. Collectively the chapters demonstrate the vibrancy and importance of property law in dealing with modern concerns across the common law world.

A must-read roadmap to analyzing, valuing, and investing in cryptocurrency and other digital assets In Investing in Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets: A Guide to Understanding Technologies, Business Models, Due Diligence, and Valuation, alternative investments expert Dr. Keith Black delivers a compelling and straightforward roadmap for analyzing, valuing, and investing in crypto and other digital assets. You'll learn how to buy crypto directly — and how to keep your new digital assets safe from hacks and fraud — and how to invest indirectly, using stocks, futures, options, and exchange-traded funds. You'll also discover how to conduct extensive due diligence to reduce technology and compliance risks, as well as how to understand the business models that underlie and power these novel technologies. The book also offers: Accessible discussions of and introductions to blockchain and distributed ledger technology, stablecoins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other foundational concepts Ways to differentiate between investing in digital assets for the long term and risky, short-term speculation An essential new playbook for institutional, professional, and retail investors involved with digital assets and cryptocurrency, Investing in Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets is the comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the sector that you've been waiting for.