Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Viva el Lessig!

Larry Lessig, everyone's favorite freedom fighter, gives a terrific interview to BusinessWeek (but you already know that because you saw it at Doc's blog on Wednesday). Lessig says:

We don't need a new vision. We just need to recognize what the traditional vision has been. The traditional vision protects copyright owners from unfair competition. It has never been a way to give copyright holders perfect control over how consumers use content. We need to make sure that pirates don't set up CD pressing plants or competing entities that sell identical products. We need to stop worrying about whether you or I use a song on your PC and then transfer it your MP3 player.

Lessig is crucial to the movement that's waiting to happen. He's got the right combination of expertise, clear-headedness, articulatenessosity, integrity and passion. I've had the opportunity to meet him a few times and can attest that, as an added bonus, he's a really good guy.

And you know what? Even with people like Lessig at the forefront, we're still probably going to lose. In fact, we lost as soon as the greedy bastards got us to accept the idea that the songs and essays and poems we write are a type of property.