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Lessig on the World Social Forum

Posted by timothy on from the everyone-wants-to-live-in-brazil dept.

Raindance writes "Lawrence Lessig has a great article up on Technology Review about the World Social Forum held this past January in Brazil. In addition to telling an engaging story, it covers topics ranging from GNU and DRM to Brazil's interesting stance on the rights of foreign copyright holders, and is a good introduction to the permission culture/remix culture debate. It also makes me want to live in Brazil."

6 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Second that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd like to second this, but also point out that American techies in Brazil make QUITE a bit more than "$100 a month", and can feel pretty safe if they stay out of the ghettos and politics.

  2. Larry Lessig by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Informative

    A few weeks ago Larry Lessig gave a great talk along with Jeff Tweedy at the New York Public Library. In it Lessig talks a lot about Brazil and how they are totally nuts about open source, and how it isn't only overweight nerds with ponytails who are into it (his words, not mine). Definitely worth watching, there is some great new material that wasn't in his book Free Culture or anywhere else that I know of.

  3. Pass it around! by GrouchoMarx · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you agree with what Lessig says in this article (and it's about as uncontrovercial yet insightful as you can get, typical of Lessig), then the best way to honor it is to pass it along to family and friends (and maybe politicians) to read. I've been a fan of Lessig's for a while, and this is an excellent short summary of the issues involved, not from a technical level or an RMS-hippie-fist-raised standpoint, but from a very clear, calm, easily-approachable angle.

    It's not about software. It's about culture. It's about the fabric of our lives (and I don't mean cotton).

    And if the US is not careful, it will be about our marginalization as a country of any importance in the information sector. We'll have made it illegal for Americans to create or have culture. That's very sad, particularly as I am an American.

    Spread the word. Then go read Lessig's book "Free Culture" (dead-tree or free electronic format). Excellent read.

    --

    --GrouchoMarx
    Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?

    1. Re:Pass it around! by alan_dershowitz · · Score: 3, Informative

      It'll make culture illegal for any of the signatories of the Berne convention, which I guess is most of the first world nations. Transnationals will make sure that there's always copyright "harmonization" between nations, as has been reported in Slashdot recently. It's not even just american companies...plenty of european companies contribute to this nonsense.

  4. Re:Wonderful by flaviocpontes · · Score: 5, Informative

    You should do some research on the situation in Venezuela before accusing someone of being an enemy of freedom. Let's just remeber the fact that Mr. Chavez got back from a "coup d'etat" because of the peoples support. Besides, the ones accusing him of authoritarism (not that I think he's perfect, in fact I also think he should handle the situation in a different manner) are the ones that held the power before him. Best regards to everyone.

  5. Response by Professor of Law by g4LastingNFree · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is a response to this article by a Professor of Law from the University of Chicago (who holds a more moderate view about this -but nevertheless agrees to some of Lessigs view) here