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The December 2004 issue of the Virginia Law Review contains a skeptical review of Larry Lessig's book Free Culture, entitled Larry Lessig's Dystopian Vision, by Prof. Julia D. Mahoney of the UVA law school. (Linked by permission of the VLR.)
Her conclusion:
It is easy to wish that Lessig had decided to write another sort of book. Had he started from the premises that adjusting property rights to technological and societal change has posed significant challenges throughout U.S. history, and that it is impossible to state with complete confidence that any regime strikes (or has struck) the appropriate balance between providing incentives to creators and innovators and ensuring appropriate access to the fruits of their efforts, Lessig might have produced a thoughtful meditation on intellectual property in the Internet age. Instead, Lessig has opted to tell a dark, sweeping tale of a nation that for most of its history adjusted to societal and technological change with ease, but now teeters on the edge of an abyss of corporate control.
The world depicted in the pages of Free Culture, however, is at odds with Lessig's dystopian vision, for it is a vibrant place where technological innovation, creative endeavors, and public discussion of political issues flourish to a degree that would have been scarcely imaginable to our forebears. That such a society faces some perplexing challenges should come as no surprise. Addressing these challenges will require a number of difficult determinations, including whether the hazards posed by various new technologies outweigh their benefits and how best to ensure that property rights evolve to promote the overall public interest. Regrettably, Free Culture promises to be of little help in crafting useful solutions to these genuine problems. Disclosure: Prof. Mahoney and I are related; she is my daughter.
posted by James DeLong @ 11:39 AM | Free Culture Movement
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