Word of the Day

samizdat

The secret publication and distribution of government-banned literature in the former Soviet Union.
The literature produced by this system.
An underground press.


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[Russian : sam, self; see sem-1 in Indo-European Roots + izdatel'stvo, publishing house (from izdat', to publish, on the model of Gosizdat, State Publishing House : iz, from, out of; see eghs in Indo-European Roots + dat', to give; see d- in Indo-European Roots).]

samizdat

/sahm-iz-daht/ n. [Russian, literally "self
publishing"] The process of disseminating documentation via
underground channels. Originally referred to underground
duplication and distribution of banned books in the Soviet Union;
now refers by obvious extension to any less-than-official
promulgation of textual material, esp. rare, obsolete, or
never-formally-published computer documentation. Samizdat is
obviously much easier when one has access to high-bandwidth networks
and high-quality laser printers. Note that samizdat is properly
used only with respect to documents which contain needed information
(see also hacker ethic) but which are for some reason otherwise
unavailable, but _not_ in the context of documents which are
available through normal channels, for which unauthorized
duplication would be unethical copyright violation. See Lions
Book for a historical example.