Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
by Lawrence Lessig
List Price:
Our Price: $9.49
You Save: $15.46 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Lawrence LessigEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-03-30
ISBN: 1594200068
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Reviews of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
Book Review: Good effort on restricting unlimited copyright
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
More Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Summary of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
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.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in General Books
Spiritual Marketing: A Proven 5-Step Formula for Easily Creating Wealth from the Inside Outby Joe Vitale
1st Books Library; Published: 2002-07-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.75
Price in other shops:
My Utmost for His Highest: An Updated Edition in Today's Language - MP3by Chambers, Oswald
Hovel Audio; Published: 2007-08-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!by Al Thomas
Book Publishing Company (TN); Published: 1999-11-01; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
1001 Ways to Market Your Books, Sixth Edition (1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers)by John Kremer
Open Horizons; Published: 2006-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.97
Price in other shops:
Debt-Proof Living: The Complete Guide to Living Financially Free (Debt-Proof Living (Paperback))by Mary M. Hunt
DPL Press; Published: 2005-10-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.33
Price in other shops:
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Modelby Donald Mitchell, Carol Coles, B. Thomas Golisano, Robert B. Knutson
Berrett-Koehler Publishers; Published: 2003-03-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.95
Price in other shops:
A Grief Observed (Library Edition)by C.S. Lewis
Blackstone Audiobooks; Published: 2005-10; MP3 CD; Book
Best price: $18.87
Price in other shops:
The Lords of Discipline: Library Editionby Pat Conroy
Blackstone Audiobooks; Published: 2006-11; MP3 CD; Book
Best price: $28.32
Price in other shops:
The Compassionate Samurai: Being Extraordinary in an Ordinary Worldby Brian Klemmer
Foghorn Publishers; Published: 2007-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
The Code Bookby Simon Singh
Fourth Estate; Published: 2000-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.31
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Propertyby Kembrew McLeod
Univ Of Minnesota Press; Published: 2007-03-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativityby Siva Vaidhyanathan
NYU Press; Published: 2003-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.34
Price in other shops:
The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop Itby Jonathan Zittrain
Yale University Press; Published: 2009-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.33
Price in other shops:
Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Futureby Cory Doctorow
Tachyon Publications; Published: 2008-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops:
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizationsby Clay Shirky
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2008-02-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.25
Price in other shops:
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collideby Henry Jenkins
NYU Press; Published: 2008-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.65
Price in other shops:
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedomby Yochai Benkler
Yale University Press; Published: 2007-10-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version 2.0by Lawrence Lessig
Basic Books; Published: 2006-12-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.47
Price in other shops:
The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected Worldby Lawrence Lessig
Vintage; Published: 2002-10-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economyby Lawrence Lessig
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2008-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.81
Price in other shops: