- ISBN13: 9780143034650
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Lawrence Lessig, “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era” (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that never before in human history has the power to control creative progress been so concentrated in the hands of the powerful few, the so-called Big Media. Never before have the cultural powers- that-be been able to exert such control over what we can and can’t do with the culture around us. Our society defends free markets an… More >>
Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
I am a person responsible for creating several orginal books, created out of nothing, adding to the public good, inspiring many, creating all kinds of jobs. I COULD NOT DISAGREE MORE with this Professor, another communist loosing himself and his ideas on our society. Why should my creation be at some point given away free to who, other publishers who can then publish it and make ALL the money. THERE is no such thing as FREE in this world, expect apparantly to overly idealistic Professors who do not live in the real world. Instead of only lengthening the term of Copyright for twenty years and then giving my creation away, they should let me and my family own it forever. Of course if this Prof actually created something that really connected with society and sold for decades I wonder who he would want to keep any earnings it might make. When is the BIG SCHOOL MONOPOLY with all their pie in the sky professors going to stop blaming BIG BUSINESS for all societies evils when in this case my copyright is all I have to support my family. I suppose the next book this nitwit will write will be about how all property owners and home owners should not own their homes and property but they should be open and useable and `owned’ by all.
Rating: 1 / 5
I don’t know how anyone can take Lessig seriously. He’s leading the counter-culture movement with books like this, but if you buy that ideology then he’s selling you out by publising with the big publishers.
If you really want to read his arguments, download this book for free at http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/. He’s finally starting to practice what he preaches.
Think about copyright law for yourself. Read the copyright statute. Read cases. Don’t take someone else’s word for it. The exclusive rights system of copyright law predates the Revolutionary War. It exists because of technological changes (like Gutenburg’s printing press), and (rest assured) it will surely survive the digital revolution. In other words, copyright isn’t dead despite the current vogue in academia of saying it is.
Bottom line: Don’t be a dolt. Don’t pay for this book.
Rating: 1 / 5
There are few new ideas or concepts in this book; I would recommend getting the paperback versions (or using your library) to get his earlier books. Some of the cases in the beginning of the book are interesting and useful. However, Lessig’s book is in dire need of editing. The editors must think that Lessig can say anything he wants now, and have given him free rein.
Rating: 1 / 5
If you care that your rights as creators and comsumers of art are being taken away by multinational corporations this is the book to read
Rating: 5 / 5
Like we need another review here. Anyhow, my 2 bits . . . because no one else has mentioned it.
The heart of Lessig’s discussion/idea/arguement is where the debate over Intellectual Property Rights leads regarding HIV/AIDS and the availability of drugs to help fight or control the disease in Africa.
Sure, grant Disney Corp. another 20? years of pimping M-I-C-K-E-Y . . . and keep Dr. Seuss from falling into the hands of pornographers. Who cares?
Lessig points out where the obnoxiously single-minded, show-me-the-money (oops! is this a copyright infringement?) p.o.v. of the wealthy leads us as a culture: that, collectively, we can dispense with the lives of millions of people while upholding a legal argument based on principal.
It’s about money clamping down on life, whether that’s the freedom to have the creative works, which were created within a cultural context, return something of value to the culture that spawned them, or whether it means the very lives of HIV/AIDS sufferers in the “3rd World.”
Read.
Rating: 4 / 5