Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity

Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity List Price: $24.95 Offer Price: USD $8.19 See Latest Price & Discount Author Lawrence Lessig Binding: Hardcover Publication Date: 2004-03-30 ISBN 1594200068 Publisher:Penguin Press HC, The Editorial Reviews: Product Description A landmark manifesto about the genuine closing of the American mind. Lawrence Lessig could be called a cultural environmentalist. One of America's most original and influential public intellectuals, his focus is the social dimension of creativity: how creative work builds on the past and how society encourages or inhibits that building with laws and technologies. In his two previous books, Code and The Future of Ideas, Lessig concentrated on the destruction of much of the original promise of the Internet. Now, in Free Culture, he widens his focus to consider the diminishment of the larger public domain of ideas. In this powerful wake-up call he shows how short-sighted interests blind to the long-term damage they're inflicting are poisoning the ecosystem that fosters innovation. All creative works-books, movies, records, software, and so on-are a compromise between what can be imagined and what is possible-technologically and legally. For more than two hundred years, laws in America have sought a balance between rewarding creativity and allowing the borrowing from which new creativity springs. The original term of copyright set by the Constitution in 1787 was seventeen years. Now it is closer to two hundred. Thomas Jefferson considered protecting the public against overly long monopolies on creative works an essential government role. What did he know that we've forgotten? Lawrence Lessig shows us that while new technologies always lead to new laws, never before have the big cultural monopolists used the fear created by new technologies, specifically the Internet, to shrink the public domain of ideas, even as the same corporations use the same technologies to control more and more what we can and can't do with culture. As more and more culture becomes digitized, more and more becomes controllable, even as laws are being toughened at the behest of the big media groups. What's at stake is our freedom-freedom to create, freedom to build, and ultimately, freedom to imagine. Customer Reviews: Review #1: flawed, but a must read to understand the significance of intellectual property in a free culture 2010-09-01 This book does a tremendous job of providing the historical context behind the importance of the public domain in our tradition of "free culture." It also provides a good historical look at the history of copyright law, and really helps the reader break free of some of the current ways of thinking about copyrights and their importance in fostering (or inhibiting) the development of our culture. The flaws are that it does get repetitive, this is certainly a subject I know well, so that may be some of it, but it does seem to go over the same points repeatedly. Second, it doesn't give quite enough discussion of how the architecture of the internet makes copyright enforcement generally more difficult (in practice). Although the RIAA and the like have started to sue individuals, and are now automating that process, it doesn't really seem they've been effective as the proliferation of illicit content seems rampant, which gets to the third flaw is that it really needs an update, a lot has happened to the Internet since this book was written, and a look at current status would be a big help. Review #2: Culture Under Attack Again! 2010-07-10 I have to draw a distinction between what Prof. Lessig demonstrates and the conclusions he draws. When he writes that greedy RIAA lawyers sue individuals for having a handful of illegally downloaded songs and take their life savings, I am ready to cheer. When he bemoans the way the concentration of media ownership seriously threatens our ability to make informed political choices I applaud and pump my fist in the air. When he complains that media corporations needlessly extend the copyrights for material that clearly should pass into the public domain, as a reader of old books I softly echo "hosanna". This is the book the good professor should have written, but alas. But when Prof. Lessig says that these copyright laws choke the creative ability of artists and writers to create original productions I roll my eyes. If he intends to demonstrate that copyright laws harm our ability to create (he says as much in the title of the book) then in all fairness he should give at least one example of creativity actually being harmed, either quantitatively or qualitatively. Does anyone really believe that there is a shortage of creativity in the US? I've only heard the opposite complaint, that we're so awash in culture that it drives and subverts the indigenous cultures of others worldwide (globalization). Prof. Lessig makes good points and draws our attention to very important issues, but he is simply not qualified to speak authoritatively on these so-called threats to cultural production. Review #3: "Losing Freedoms in the Digital Age by Copyrights" 2009-12-16 "Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity", Lawrence Lessig, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 2004. ISBN 0-14 30.3465 0, PB 345/306. Notes 24 pgs., Index 13 pgs. 7 3/4" x 5". The author, an ambitious lawyer and previously published is a professor at Stanford Law School immersed in diverse activities. He digresses on cultural freedoms in America, with especial emphasis on copyright laws in the digital (computer) age. At great length and in myriads of ways he discusses ownership rights to creations subject to copyright protection - and finally, in chapter 13 (of 14) we meet the real subject matter of this entire narrative, Eldred, for whom he'd filed a lawsuit, Eldred v. Ashcroft, January 1999, in federal district court of Washington, D.C., "asking the court to declare the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act unconstitutional" with claims the CTEA violated the Constitution's "limited Times" requirement. The Court of Appeals initially rejected hearing the case en banc but finally agreed to review the D.C. Circuit opinion in Oct. 2002. Herein, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals, with two dissents & seven affirmatives. In the remaining 50 pages or so, Lessig discusses the legal, societal and big business factors likely to influence a court's opinion. The author's current mission is to now crusade and attempt to change this CTEA law, one he argues is not only unconstitutional and does not promote free culture; a law that does great harm in suppressing freedoms in many ways through inhibiting expression & creativity, mainly by fear of expensive litigation (for which he provides excellent examples). Much in the book deals with both real and imaginary fears of litigation for infringement on patents, especially copyrights that no longer require a marking, registration, or renewal. Overall, this book has a lot to offer; but, it is unnecessarily wordy, repeatedly overstates that which is clear. In the Afterword, he recites ways he would like to see copyright laws re-formulated. Here, Lessig has honed his arguments nicely. Review #4: Essential reading 2009-05-07 Copyright is one of the most important issues of the day, especially for anyone invested in any creative industry, and yet - so few artists and arts professionals invest themselves in thinking about it. I used to think "copyright" was only a concern for appropriation artists. After reading Lessig's incredibly thorough and engaging book, I now know better. He makes a compelling argument, backed up by an impressive accumulation of footnotes - all of which are indexed and linked in the freely downloadable on-line version. How's that for transparency? I'd recommend this to anyone. Review #5: Good effort on restricting unlimited copyright 2009-04-07 The author of the book, Lawrence Lessig, is a professor of law at Stanford Law School. He is a crusader for reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications. He is well known for representing Eldred in the case Eldred v Ashcroft where he fought in the US Supreme Court that the numerous extensions of copyright duration by the US Congress was unconstitutional. He explained the case in details in the book and admitted his mistake. He argued that the extension was unconstitutional because the Constitution has a clause on limited time of copyright, and that repeated extension would render copyright with no time limit. He regretted that he did not take the advice of his legal partners that the case should be presented to the Supreme Court highlighting the harm done to free culture owing to unending copyright. A mere academic explanation of the letters of the Constitution was not sufficient to impress the Supreme Court. As a result of such copyright extensions, the public domain of publications has ceased to expand since 1923. With regard to property right, he cited the case of Causbys. The Causbys sued the US government of allowing airplanes to fly over their farm. The Causbys argued that the property right of their land would include the space above it, and that the government was trespassing on their property. In 1945, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the decision of the Congress with a simple statement that "Common sense revolts at the idea". As such, hundreds of years of property right was erased. Lessig likened this case to the numerous extensions of copyright duration. The unlimited copyright duration has led to all published materials: books, music, films, to be excluded from the public domain forever. Common sense should revolt at this idea as well. Free culture, free as in freedom not free lunch, is threatened as copyright could restrain all adaptations of published materials. Lessig explained in details the origin, history and trend of the copyright issue. One topic which I am quite interested, and which deeply affects the Internet, is the downloading of files, in particular the peer-to-peer, P2P, file sharing technology which enables fast transmission and copying of digital files. A strong lobby comprising book publishers, music recording companies and movie companies are seeking strong enforcement power on the transmission of copyright materials on the Internet. The most advanced technology in the dissemination of knowledge is being restrained, as well as the free culture. On file sharing, Lessig divided them into four types by the content shared: Type A. Some people use sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing content. Although it is arguable whether everyone who takes content this way would actually have bought it if sharing didn't make it available for free, there are some who would, thus depriving the legitimate sale of copyright content. Type B. Some people use sharing networks to sample content before purchasing it. This is a kind of target advertising which is quite likely to succeed. The net effect of this sharing could increase the quantity of content purchased. Type C. There are many who use sharing networks to get access to copyrighted content that is no longer sold. For content not sold, there is still technically a violation of copyright, although because the copyright owner is not selling the content anymore, the economic harm is zero. Type D. There are many who use sharing networks to get access to content that is not copyrighted or that the copyright owner wants to give away. Only type D sharing is clearly legal from the perspective of the law. If viewed from the perspective of economics, only type A sharing is harmful. Type B is illegal but beneficial to the owner. Type C is illegal yet good for the society. Any reform of the law and enforcement actions should take all these into account. They must avoid burdening type D even if it aims to eliminate type A. They should also consider the magnitude of type B and assess the actual harm done against the benefits gained. Instead of vigorously putting off all file sharing activities, Lessig suggested a model that could solve the problem and satisfy all parties. First, there should be a register of copyright materials. This would establish a clear legal status of copyright so that people wishing to use copyright materials could have a clear channel to seek permission. Second, there should be a definite duration of copyright to enable owners to receive their fair share of benefits. Third, such duration could be reasonably extended for those with continued value. Materials which their owners would wish to surrender copyright, or with expired copyright could enter the public domain for either free sharing or be used at a nominal cost. At present, these proposals are fiercely resisted by the interest parties who wish copyright to be forever. Notwithstanding the impasse, there are clear signs that the present struggle of file copying and file sharing on the Internet is only temporary. The Internet is quickly moving into its next phase of fast connection speed and perpetual availability. Broadband connection is now widely used, and its speed is expected to be further enhanced. Fibre-optic connection and wireless connection are making Internet access more convenient and virtually always available. There are at present many websites offering online on-the-fly music listening, movie viewing and electronic book reading. There will soon be no need for a user to download content from sharing networks as content is readily available any time we need. The freedom of using such knowledge and thus enabling a free culture is what Lessig is looking forward to.