Awards
2004 BusinessWeek Book Of The Year
Synopses & Reviews
Lawrence Lessig, andldquo;the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet eraandrdquo; (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that never before in human history has the power to control creative progress been so concentrated in the hands of the powerful few, the so-called Big Media. Never before have the cultural powers- that-be been able to exert such control over what we can and canandrsquo;t do with the culture around us. Our society defends free markets and free speech; why then does it permit such top-down control? To lose our long tradition of free culture, Lawrence Lessig shows us, is to lose our freedom to create, our freedom to build, and, ultimately, our freedom to imagine.
Review
"A powerfully argued and important analysis... surprisingly entertaining." —The
New York Times Book Review
"An entertaining and important look at the past and future of the cold war between the media industry and new technologies." —Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape
Review
A powerfully argued and important analysis... surprisingly entertaining. (The New York Times Book Review) An entertaining and important look at the past and future of the cold war between the media industry and new technologies. (Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape)
Synopsis
Lawrence Lessig, “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era” (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that never before in human history has the power to control creative progress been so concentrated in the hands of the powerful few, the so-called Big Media. Never before have the cultural powers- that-be been able to exert such control over what we can and can’t do with the culture around us. Our society defends free markets and free speech; why then does it permit such top-down control? To lose our long tradition of free culture, Lawrence Lessig shows us, is to lose our freedom to create, our freedom to build, and, ultimately, our freedom to imagine.
About the Author
Lawrence Lessig is a professor at Stanford Law School and the founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. The author of The Future of Ideas and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, he is the chair of the Creative Commons project. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School, he has clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
"PIRACY"
Chapter One: Creators
Chapter Two: "Mere Copyists"
Chapter Three: Catalogs
Chapter Four: "Pirates"
Film
Recorded Music
Radio
Cable TV
Chapter Five: "Piracy"
Piracy I
Piracy II
"PROPERTY"
Chapter Six: Founders
Chapter Seven: Recorders
Chapter Eight: Transformers
Chapter Nine: Collectors
Chapter Ten: "Property"
Why Hollywood Is Right
Beginnings
Law: Duration
Law: Scope
Law and Architecture: Reach
Architecture and Law: Force
Market: Concentration
Together
"PUZZLES"
Chapter Eleven: Chimera
Chapter Twelve: Harms
Constraining Creators
Constraining Innovators
Corrupting Citizens
"BALANCES"
Chapter Thirteen: Eldred
Chapter Fourteen: Eldred II
Conclusion
AFTERWORD
Us, Now
Rebuilding Freedoms Previously Presumed: Examples
Rebuilding Free Culture: One Idea
Them, Soon
1. More Formalities
Registration and Renewal
Marking
2. Shorter Terms
3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use
4. Liberate the Music - Again
5. Fire Lots of Lawyers
Notes
Acknowledgments Index