“Fire and Fury” has been out for less than a week and already the book has reached the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. The book exposes the goings-on inside the White House or, more specifically, the complete train-wreck of the Trump administration. The book has, unsurprisingly, sparked both outrage and glee. Already, Trump has held several press conferences and written tweets defending himself against Michael Wolff’s claims, the author of the book and even threatened to sue for libel.
Despite several shocking excerpts and headline-worthy quotes, to the majority of the American, and perhaps even global public, the narrative of the book as a whole does not share anything new. One reason why the book has been so well received is that for many, its coverage of the interior of the White House confirms what so many have assumed for so long yet had only tweets as evidence, looking from the outside in.
If hearing only these excerpts and snippets of the book in the news is not enough and Amazon’s same-day delivery is still too long a wait, then the full manuscript of “Fire and Fury” is still accessible, made public by WikiLinks last Sunday, January 7, just two days before the book was scheduled to go on sale.
Full text of controversial book on Trump, “Fire and Fury”, by Michael Wolff, leaks onto internet: https://t.co/sf7vj4IYAx
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2018
The tweet, which contains the full manuscript as a PDF file saved on Google Drive, brings up the issue of copyright infringement, questioning not only WikiLeak’s legal rights but also the role of the internet user who decides to retweet the manuscript’s link, re-upload it or simply download it themselves.
In an increasingly more digitized world, issues such as this will become more and more crucial to address, while at the same time more complex. Arguments for freedom of speech, freedom of information, public domain, individual privacy, the rights of an artist, the economic impact of free access and personal liability in the digital world are represented in the microcosm of a Twitter thread.
Each impassioned comment to WikiLeak’s linking of the manuscript is incredibly relevant and representative of a critical dilemma. Be that as it may, the point is moot, at least on the controversy over the manuscript, as Google Drive has now blocked access to the document.
