Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas

[Purpose]In this article, Professor Boyle analyzes how the law treats information in four seemingly disparate areas: copyright, genetic information, blackmail, and insider trading. He argues that issues of information regulation, commodification, and access are shaped by two neglected processes of i...

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Main Author: James Boyle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade de Brasília 2025-05-01
Series:Revista de Direito Setorial e Regulatório
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Online Access:https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/rdsr/article/view/58078
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author James Boyle
author_facet James Boyle
author_sort James Boyle
collection DOAJ
description [Purpose]In this article, Professor Boyle analyzes how the law treats information in four seemingly disparate areas: copyright, genetic information, blackmail, and insider trading. He argues that issues of information regulation, commodification, and access are shaped by two neglected processes of interpretative construction.[Methodology/approach/design]First, such issues are often decided by categorizing them into implicitly contradictory stereotypes of “public” or “private” information. These conflicting stereotypes are rooted in basic assumptions about politics, markets, and privacy in a Liberal State. Second, Professor Boyle argues that the tension between these stereotypes is often apparently resolved usinga seductive image: the romantic author whose original and transformative genius justifies private ownership and fuels public debate.[Findings] Thus, conventional wisdom, courts, and even economic analysts are more likely to favor granting property rights over information when the controller of that information can convincingly be attributed tothe qualities of originality, creativity, and individuality—defining attributes of romantic authorship. This is possible in the domain of copyright and for manipulators, if not sources, of genetic information. Blackmailers and whistleblowers, on the otherhand, do not easily fit the mold of the romantic author and are instead classified as transgressors against the “private” and “public” stereotypes of information, respectively. [Practical implications]The article concludes by assessing the impact of implicit stereotypes on the politics of the “information age.”[Originality/value]Professor Boyle argues that the emphasis on the ideology of authorship may be as important to an information society as notions of contractual freedom and wage labor were to a previous industrialized society. This ideology of authorship, he asserts, with its tendency to devalue the claims of sources and the public, has the potential to seriously harm the political and economic structure of the “information age.”
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spelling doaj-art-d3cd3b4d2a204c29a8e88fd155a8c94c2025-08-20T02:56:51ZengUniversidade de BrasíliaRevista de Direito Setorial e Regulatório2446-550X2446-52592025-05-011111163Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações PrivilegiadasJames Boyle0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0804-3390Duke Law School[Purpose]In this article, Professor Boyle analyzes how the law treats information in four seemingly disparate areas: copyright, genetic information, blackmail, and insider trading. He argues that issues of information regulation, commodification, and access are shaped by two neglected processes of interpretative construction.[Methodology/approach/design]First, such issues are often decided by categorizing them into implicitly contradictory stereotypes of “public” or “private” information. These conflicting stereotypes are rooted in basic assumptions about politics, markets, and privacy in a Liberal State. Second, Professor Boyle argues that the tension between these stereotypes is often apparently resolved usinga seductive image: the romantic author whose original and transformative genius justifies private ownership and fuels public debate.[Findings] Thus, conventional wisdom, courts, and even economic analysts are more likely to favor granting property rights over information when the controller of that information can convincingly be attributed tothe qualities of originality, creativity, and individuality—defining attributes of romantic authorship. This is possible in the domain of copyright and for manipulators, if not sources, of genetic information. Blackmailers and whistleblowers, on the otherhand, do not easily fit the mold of the romantic author and are instead classified as transgressors against the “private” and “public” stereotypes of information, respectively. [Practical implications]The article concludes by assessing the impact of implicit stereotypes on the politics of the “information age.”[Originality/value]Professor Boyle argues that the emphasis on the ideology of authorship may be as important to an information society as notions of contractual freedom and wage labor were to a previous industrialized society. This ideology of authorship, he asserts, with its tendency to devalue the claims of sources and the public, has the potential to seriously harm the political and economic structure of the “information age.”https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/rdsr/article/view/58078theory of law and informationcopyright lawinsider informationinformation regulationinformation age
spellingShingle James Boyle
Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
Revista de Direito Setorial e Regulatório
theory of law and information
copyright law
insider information
information regulation
information age
title Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
title_full Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
title_fullStr Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
title_full_unstemmed Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
title_short Uma Teoria do Direito e da Informação: Direitos Autorais, Baços, Chantagem e Venda de Informações Privilegiadas
title_sort uma teoria do direito e da informacao direitos autorais bacos chantagem e venda de informacoes privilegiadas
topic theory of law and information
copyright law
insider information
information regulation
information age
url https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/rdsr/article/view/58078
work_keys_str_mv AT jamesboyle umateoriadodireitoedainformacaodireitosautoraisbacoschantagemevendadeinformacoesprivilegiadas