[FYI] NewsForge Coverage of Lessig?s Talk
<http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/index.php?p=1541>
NewsForge Coverage of Lessig?s Talk [8:58 pm]
(See below) Lessig: IP protection a business, not cultural,
battleground
?These laws have become an insane and unintended burden on creators,
because nobody had conceived of the Internet at the time, which has
changed everything,? he said. ?Nobody had any idea of the new
business opportunities and new businesses that were to be created by
the Internet. This is why we need real reform now in intellectual
property protection. Unfortunately, I don?t see anybody taking the
lead in Washington to do anything about this.?
Growth in creative industries such as radio, television, movies,
publishing, music ? and, yes, software ? is threatened when ?a few
powerful interests control how culture develops. Growth must occur in
creative businesses when they protect themselves from these
controlling interests,? Lessig said.
[?] ?Let the commercial interests compete on execution of the ideas;
that?s the free enterprise system,? Lessig said. ?But the creators
need to maintain the freedom to distribute their ideas any way they
want. They shouldn?t be bogged down by 20-year copyrights and other
old restrictions that bottle up good ideas? on keep them on the
shelf, Lessig said.
[?] Silicon Valley as a whole has been ?pathetic? in defending the
rights of its creative people. ?We believe in competition between
business models and within business models,? Lessig said, ?and
monopolies tend to weaken this competition. Support for open
platforms is also support for business in general. Support for
competition is also cupport for culture. We have another ?Kodak
opportunity.? We need to eliminate the debate between capitalism and
communism and reframe it to between creators and business.?
[...]
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