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International Law

: Freedom to Differ

Lessig on copyright and politics

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During the week the New York Times published an op-ed piece from Larry Lessig explaining how copyright law is being used as a tool for censorship:

Copyright law has become a political weapon because of a statute passed a decade ago: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That law tells carriers like YouTube that unless they quickly remove material posted by users that is alleged to infringe copyright, they themselves could be liable for the infringement. Understandably, YouTube and others have become quite vigilant in removing allegedly infringing content. Indeed, the Web site has gone beyond the requirements of the law and has begun to shut down the accounts of people alleged to have violated copyright just three times.

The digital copyright act gives the alleged infringer an opportunity to demand that the content be restored. But in the height of a political campaign, even a few hours of downtime can be the difference between effective and ineffective. The law thus creates a perfect mechanism to censor political speech during the only time it could matter. Recognizing this, campaigns and their allies are beginning to exploit this weapon.

The answer to this problem is not to abolish or ignore copyright. Instead, the law should be revised, bringing focus to the contexts in which its important economic incentives are needed, and removing it from contexts where it isn?t.

Read more here. Lessig was also in the news in the UK this week with The Guardian giving him a gushing editorial:

Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford professor, is a lawyer who gets things changed not for the benefit of corporations but to unleash the creative potential of ordinary people in a digital age. He founded Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation whose licences enable content creators to set their own terms for protection of their intellectual property. He regards extension of copyright as anathema to the YouTube generation and a brake on economic growth. He also thinks it is against the US constitution, which states that copyright should be "limited". The original limit has been extended from 14 to 70 years after the death of the creator, and Prof Lessig points out that one of the main corporations that lobbied for this, Disney, cut its creative teeth by raiding the public domain for works from Snow White to the Hunchback of Notre Dame. If the current term for copyright had existed then, it might have suffocated Mickey Mouse at birth. Prof Lessig is formidably qualified, with degrees in economics, management, philosophy and law, but it was only when he studied philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, that his conservative views underwent radical change. His latest book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, will enhance his cult status on the web. This year he launched a web-based campaign to get Congress members to take a stand against corruption. So far only five have signed up, but if - as is possible - Prof Lessig ends up in government then he will have less need to rely on persuasion.

Read it here. However, not everyone was a fan of Lessig this week. Business Week's Spence Ante didn't like Lessig's latest book, Remix:

But Remix is Lessig's weakest effort to date, a derivative essay that rehashes a lot of his older work. Like Martin Scorsese doing another mobster flick, Lessig seems uninspired, groping for a fresh take on familiar themes. Most annoying, he devotes only the last 35 pages of the book to his reform plan, and some of those ideas are not even that new.

Read the full review here and then check out Lessig's response here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on October 25, 2008 (boomark / email).