Information and the marketplace are uneasy bedfellows. The dissemination of information via media can have many different and overlapping purposes, including entertainment, art, ideology, and research. It is particularly among groups that need to share information - the academic and scientific communities, for example - that viewing it as something that can be bought and sold is intrusive and even damaging. There are many other reasons why the commodification of information, which continues to move from strength to strength with the expansion of international free trade, must be carefully serutinized. Several contributors examine the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and its redefinition of such traditional IP concepts as "fair use" and "market failure." The Commodification of Information will prove a landmark work for all those involved with this complex area of knowledge and activity. Software developers, academic and research institutions, corporate counsel, government policymakers and regulators - all these and more will benefit enormously from the thoughtful and incisive discussion presented here.