Consumer Law

Another Call for Reform of the Copyright Code to Prevent Censorship

By Paul Levy

by Paul Alan Levy

In an op-ed published today, Larry Lessig calls for reform of the Copyright Code to prevent the sort of political censorship that I discussed a few days ago here. Lessig suggests not only reform of the DMCA, but a broader approach to cutting back copyright law  to "bring... focus to the contexts in which its important economic incentives are needed, and remov[e] it from contexts where it isn?t."  His sounds themes similar to his new book, Remix, on which Brian Wolfman commented here a few days ago.

Lessig is right to suggest that the midst of a political campaign is the wrong time to try to craft such changes, but we should certainly strive to ensure that the public recalls the censorship lessons that have been taught during this election, and redouble our commitment to fix the law when Congress resumes session in January.   Both parties now have reason to support these changes.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).