« BG - CBE - Maurice (RIP) | Main | J2ME RSS Reader »

Free Culture

Finished Lessig's Free Culture, and it's an amazing read.

He starts the discussion with the tale of P2P versus the RIAA, and end up in the middle of the Eldred case he argued (and lost) in front of the Supreme Court. In the chapter about Eldred, Lessig steps outside of his usually very orderly and lawyerly discourse to show his passion (and dissapointment) about the case -- his very public mea culpa points to his focus on precedent, and not on the concrete damage that endless copyright extensions do to our culture (and society). Who knew Sonny Bono's legacy would be more notable than Gopher from the Love Boat? What would've happened if Ike Turner became a congressman? But I digress. Lessig offers some possible solutions -- or at least a roadmap out of the current mess -- partly by pointing out the fact that we should not legislate around the current technology in a way that limits advancement -- but find solutions that will support growth, and equitably handle these same issues with the technology still to come. If we had generated complex laws to protect consumers from the danger of electricty in the days before plastic cheaply covered copper wire, where would we be?

Too bad, Lessig's just declared email bankrupcy. No, in fact, it's kinda cute that he even still cares enough to bother to try to reply to all the mail his work generates. His work is critically important, and he is a hero for "the little guy" fighting the big corporate machines. Buy it, really.

Posted by juechi at 3:57 PM