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Free Culture

The Nature and Future of Creativity

By Lawrence Lessig

(50)

| Paperback | 9780143034650

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Book Description

Lawrence Lessig, “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era” (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that never before in human history has the power to control creative progress been so concentrated in the hands of the powerful few, the so-called Big MediContinue

4 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

Not against copyright

...but for the freedom of sharing, spreading culture and creating derivate works whilst respecting copyright. Lessig explains very clearly why the current copyright system is flawed and proposes some interesting changes (both for "you" as user and content creator, and for "them" the law system). All ... (continue)

...but for the freedom of sharing, spreading culture and creating derivate works whilst respecting copyright. Lessig explains very clearly why the current copyright system is flawed and proposes some interesting changes (both for "you" as user and content creator, and for "them" the law system). All extremes are carefully avoided: Lessig manages to be credible, to explain the problem and to convince you of how wrong "eternal" copyright could be.
Very interesting. Recommended!

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Lorenz Cuno Klopfenstein said on Dec 1, 2007 | Add your feedback

Many do not understand what copyright or the public domain are about. Let alone what creative commons means. The aim of creative commons is to build a reasonable copyright on top of the extremes that reign today. They go beyond fair use and complements copyright. I fall into the category of those wh ... (continue)

Many do not understand what copyright or the public domain are about. Let alone what creative commons means. The aim of creative commons is to build a reasonable copyright on top of the extremes that reign today. They go beyond fair use and complements copyright. I fall into the category of those who use CC to express the importance of a balance in the debate. I wanted to get to the source of this debate and found Lessig’s work (and presentations) very interesting.
This book, Orwellian at times, is about Free cultures (cultures have a great deal open for others to build upon) and I like it’s style. Not too academic, but yet loads of sources mentioned. A few practical examples, which lead up to an argument to support Lessig’s case to explain how big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity.
A free culture supports and protects creators and innovators. A free culture is not a culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which everything is free. Although one can see this book as merely a derivative of Stallman’s essays, as Lessig puts it, I found this book – about the effect of the Internet beyond the internet itself- very valuable and insightful. Lessig, fighter against the piracy of the public domain, writes (argues) against extreme points of view on copyright and calls for a balance. A balance between norms, law, market and architecture (put in order by me).
Just a few great wordings:
Policy makers should not make policy on the basis of technology in transaction. They should make policy on the basis where technology is going.
Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives dinosaurs a veto over the future.
We all forget history. The key is whether we have a way to go back and rediscover what we forget.
Read about RCA’s AM empire, the Causby’s (with a nice land/air ownership example), Doujinshi and Eastman, Grimm and Disney, something relatively new and something really new, the statute of Anne and the way back machine.
American copyright started with a very narrow scope: it covered maps, charts and books. Now it covers nearly any creative (tangible) work. But i was stunned how much “Dark content” (Kevin Kelly attrib). is around, most of which has no commercial value (but the owner is not known; we are talking about 95% of the content here). Not sure how this American (born a pirate nation) copyright compares to the EU of Dutch position. But I do feel more ready to understand some of the recent debate by the EU on copyright and the internet.

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Jw van Eck said on Aug 21, 2011 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Section 3[return]Innovation

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Jonaschau said on Jul 18, 2009 | Add your feedback

A serious study on the detrimental effects of the excesses of copyright protection on our culture, including a brief history of copyright in the US and hints at several possible solutions that would help promote a free culture without depriving content creators of their due.

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Ian Atrus said on Jul 15, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback