Freedom of Speech on the Internet — Part 10: Lawrence Lessig = Awesome
August 12th, 2009 | 3,532 views | 1 Comment » | Tweet
Number of Creative Commons licensed works (IN MILLIONS), plotted over time
Lessig’s efforts to reform copyright involve two main points:
1.) The law should give up its obsession with “copy.”
In the digital world, “copying” is not a meaningful act, so the law should focus its attention on something more meaningful. There are dozens of proposals for alternative copyright models, which I do not have space to cover here. The essential point is that change is needed in the law. As Lessig puts it:
We need to deregulate a significant space of culture and focus the regulation where it can do some good.
In its current form, copyright law amounts to the regulation of culture, which was clearly not its original intent.
2.) The law should distinguish between amateur and professional copying.
The law should recognize the importance of remix culture to youth culture by distinguishing between amateur and professional copying. Copyright law should encourage both amateur and professional creativity by producing incentives for the professional and promoting freedom for the amateur.
For most of the twentieth century, John Philip Sousa’s worst fears about creative production were true: the “infernal machines” – cassette players, CD players, radio, TV – robbed human culture of its creativity and of its voice. He describes:
Never before in the history of human culture had its [creative works] production become as concentrated, never before had it become as professionalized, never before had the creativity of the ordinary person become as effectively displaced . . .
However, remix culture has changed all of this, once again involving the ordinary person in the creative process. The whole social media scene allows forms of expression that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. It is essential for the law to recognize the importance of a participatory creative culture and seek to protect and promote it at all costs.
The Creative Commons Logo. Awesome!
In his quest to reform copyright law, Lessig started Creative Commons, an alternative license to the standard copyright (©). While the purpose of copyright licensing is to restrict rights to use the content, the purpose of Lessig’s Creative Commons licensing is to explicitly give away rights that the content creator does not want to reserve for himself.
The Creative Commons FAQ describes the idea underlying the organization:
Some people may not want to exercise all of the intellectual property rights the law affords them. We believe there is an unmet demand for an easy yet reliable way to tell the world “Some rights reserved” or even “No rights reserved.” Many people have long since concluded that all-out copyright doesn’t help them gain the exposure and widespread distribution they want.
The effects of Lessig’s work with Creative Commons have been profound. The most recent statistics from December 2008 reveal that an incredible 150 million works are now licensed under Creative Commons, creating a breadth and depth of public domain work that was simply unimaginable in an earlier age.
This high-quality content is free to use, remix, and build off of in new creative works. How awesome is that?
Update: You should read:
Part 11 – Final Thoughts
[...] You should read: Part 1 – Remix Culture Part 2 – Broken Promises Part 3 – Network (Classic 1976 Film) Part 4 – Concentration of Media Ownership Part 5 – George Orwell Rolls in His Grave Part 6 – The Internet Revolution and Citizen Media Part 7 – Remix Culture (…again) Part 8 – Threats to Freedom of Speech on the Net Part 9 – Yes We Can Regulate Culture with Copyright Law Part 10 – Lawrence Lessig = Awesome [...]