Access Rules – Freeing Data from Big Tech for a Better Future

"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