Thursday, June 19, 2008

update: Net Neutrality

With a big thanks to Gretchin at Scarlet Star Studios, I became aware of Lawrence Lessig and the work he has done related to net neutrality, copyright law, and related endeavors. Below are some links to his blog, and a couple of websites with more information.

The following is the profile of Lessig from TED.com (another amazing resource I discovered today):

" No expert has brought as much fresh thinking to the field of contemporary copyright law as has Lawrence Lessig. A Stanford professor and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society, this fiery believer foresaw the response a threatened content industry would have to digital technology -- and he came to the aid of the citizenry.

As corporate interests have sought to rein in the forces of Napster and YouTube, Lessig has fought back with argument -- take his recent appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court,
fighting the extension of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years -- and with solutions: He chairs Creative Commons, a nuanced, free licensing scheme for individual creators.

Lessig possesses a rare combination of lawerly exactitude and
impassioned love of the creative impulse. Applying both with equal dedication, he has become a true hero to artists, authors, scientists, coders and opiners everywhere."

Lessig has also written several books and there are numerous online articles and videos.

This issue of net neutrality and creative copyrights is important. I know there are many important issues competing for attention and time and, I will admit, I wasn't really paying attention to this one.

Always learning!

* LINKS *
-- Lessig Blog
-- Read an interview from The Washington Post, No Tolls on The Internet.
-- Or an online article at Democracy Now,
Law Professor Lawrence Lessig on Net Neutrality, the Rise of Google and His “Change Congress” Project to Take on Corruption in Washington.
-- Or you can watch a video, Larry Lessig: How Creativity is being strangled by the law, on YouTube, which is not specifically about net neutrality, but about creativity.