Lessig On Free Content, Copyright

Glyn Moody writes "In an interview with the Guardian, Lawrence Lessig explains exactly how he'd like copyright reformed, and has this to say about free content: 'I think it's going to be a more significant movement than the free software movement because whatever the importance of the freedom of coders, coders will still be just a tiny proportion of the public, but culture is ... much broader.'"

Comments

Be careful what you wish for.

[ScentCone]

Right. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of forked Robert Jordan novels. shudder

Re:Not gonna matter

[Anonymous Coward]

that the media was able to turn the word 'liberal' into a profanity.

No, that was liberals.

Re:Not gonna matter

[RLiegh]

Actually, it is. That's the fun thing about democracies; they tend to need to cater to the most people possible; and most people are unbelievably stupid.

A counter-example

[Half-pint HAL]

As a song-writer, this issue irritates me.

Free software works because it reduces duplication of labour: anyone can write a Bubble-Sort routine for language X, so if the first person who writes a bubble-sort in X releases it freely, no-one is forced to rewrite the Bubble-Sort. This is efficient. Is the coder being ripped off? Probably not, as someone else will have programmed it, so he can pick it up free. Distribution of labour.

However, it is only me who can write my songs -- they are the product of my brain and my personal interpretation of my environment and culture. No-one else is ever going to write the same songs independently of me. By making my songs free, I reduce the impetus for others to write their own (they can just cover mine). This leads to a reduction in effort, definitely, but also to a reduction in variety.

And here's the killer. What if I get involved in a road accident which crushes my right hand and leads me to need a trachyotomy? I would never sing or play any musical instrument again. Thus to make a living from my music, I would need to be able to sell my songs, not just my performances, which I couldn't do if all other songs were free.

HAL.