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Copyright Guru Seeks to Change Congress

By Brett Trout

I do not write about politics, because this is not a political blog. It is a blog about intellectual property. As someone deeply concerned about intellectual property, however, I thought you would be interested to know that the most famous copyright attorney on earth is considering a bid for Congress. While reasonable minds may differ on so many political issues, one issue upon which we can all agree is the corruption in Congress has gotten out of hand. The petty differences, even between the major political parties, pale in comparison to the problem of Congressional corruption. Congress takes lots and lots of money from the very entities it is charged with regulating. Not good.

You may have already heard of copyright guru Lawrence Lessig. Lessig is the founder and CEO of Creative Commons and board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Now the Stanford Law School professor, no longer quixotically tilting Microsoft?s antitrust windmill, is taking aim at corrupt politicians. At present, he is pondering whether he can best assist his Change Congress movement by running for Congress himself. Lessig?s main drive is to promote the public finance of campaigns and eliminate congressional earmarks which cannot help but sway their votes.

People who know me would never assume I would support someone with Lessig's political views. I actually agree more with his anticipated opponent on most issues. It is the issue of changing corruption, however, which overrides more minor political differences.
A politician running on a campaign of reducing corruption, eliminating politicians taking money from the companies they are charged with regulating. If this sounds interesting, something you would support, visit Lessig's exploratory website. If he does not hear from you, he will not run.

And even if you hate copyright attorneys, wouldn't you rather have him in Congress, annoying your least favorite politician? No one knows more than you how annoying they can be when they actually put their minds to it.

Brett Trout

Full post as published by Blawg IT on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).