|
|
| Larry Lessig's New Book - Free Online Version of "Free Culture" |
 |
|
Friday, March 26 2004 @ 01:30 AM EST
|
Larry Lessig's new book, "Free Culture", is available for download as a PDF, under the Creative Commons License, free in both senses. He says this about the format, and it sounds like he could use some help: "There’s been a lot of noise about the formats for Free Culture — or rather, the format. I’m a big believer in PDF, but the reason I’ve not posted more than PDF is just this — I’m not a production company! Nor am I half as cool as Cory. But as I licensed CC under a CC-attribution-noncommercial license, anyone’s free to make a derivative work of the PDF so long as not for commercial purposes. And if you send a link (or a file), I’d be happy (and grateful) to link to it from the Free Culture site." He also explains a little about the book: "Thanks to the lessons explained by others (Cory), and the courage of a great publisher (Penguin), Free Culture launches today with a free online version of the book, licensed under a Creative Commons license." Click on the Penguin link to buy the book in paper format.
|
|
|
|
| Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 02:29 AM EST |
Make sure you wear sunglasses when viewing the cover
page... it's a real headache maker... [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: RSC on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 02:32 AM EST |
Love the cover. :)
---
----
An Australian who IS interested.[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 02:33 AM EST |
I'm on page 27, and I don't want to put the book (PDF?) down. So far, great
stuff Mr. Lessig![ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Scriptwriter on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 02:35 AM EST |
I found out about this book this afternoon when it was reviewed on Slashdot. So
far I'm through the first three pages and it looks to be quite readable.
But yeah, that cover has got to go. :)
---
Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve
fronts.
irc.fdfnet.net #groklaw[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 02:55 AM EST |
...should be tied to a chair until they have read this from cover to cover and
can recite every passage. And Sonny Bono should be dug up and propped up until
he reads it too.
Orrin Hatch ought to have it tattooed on his rear. Better yet, on the rear of
Bill Gates and Jack Valenti - so he can read it while he's busy doing their
bidding.
GREAT WORK, SIR![ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: mpah on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 06:05 AM EST |
This is indeed a wonderful book - I downloaded it last night and have read about
half so far.
Chapter 3 - 'Catalogs' - starts with an account of the suit brought by the RIAA
against Jesse Jordans for building a catalog of an intranet that contained music
files. It appears that he was advised that even if he won his case, the cost of
his defence (estimated at $250000) would leave him and his family broke, and
that it would be cheaper to buy off the RIAA with his $12000 savings.
In the UK (I believe) costs in a case of this kind would be given against the
RIAA if they lost. Is it really true that in the US the defendant would have to
carry the cost of a successful defence?
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: John Hasler on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 09:10 AM EST |
> ...licensed CC under a CC-attribution-noncommercial
> license...
So it _isn't_ "free in both senses".[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: ralevin on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 01:05 PM EST |
I was wondering if I should mention this, and then they put up a topic! I saw
him speak at the 92nd St. Y a few days ago. Very good speaker. I can't remember
all the points he made (all of which should be in the book) but a few things
stood out:
First that in the script for "Steamboat Willie", the foundation of the
Disney empire, it specifically says to use the music from Buster Keaton's
"Steamboat Bill".
Second he said that he didn't think he was advocating for the radical changes
some claim: "I would be happy with the copyright laws that Richard Nixon
lived under, how radical can that be?"
In answer to a question he agreed that the community had mishandled the Napster
issue: they were looking to get the courts to stay out and let the situation
develop as happened with VCRs, (and then adjust the law if need be once things
were clearer) but the general public got the impression they were defending
theft.
He showed a variety of video clips to reinforce his points. Using an apple
powerbook.
He's a very good, entertaining speaker, worth seeing if he comes to town. (his
website is www.lessig.org) He looks younger in person. My one complaint is that,
in NYC, at $25/head, plus many people buying the book at $24+, he could have
worn a tie. That "Don Johnson" T-shirt and suit jacket doesn't cut it
here.
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: John Goodwin on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 03:34 PM EST |
I'm part way through the book and still hope he discusses this, but probably he
won't.
Suppose we loose the semantic battle (and the free culture battle) and the
dominant social norm becomes "rights for value" and "intellectual
property" sticks as a notion.
Valuable property is taxable, right? One way to "fight IP" and defend
free culture that is relatively easy is to tax the hell out of IP. OK, Mr.
Gates, you say you have $187 billion dollars worth of IP on your balance sheet,
so the State of Washington applies its 0.1% tax on IP and your bill this year is
$187 million.
In other words, let companies make extravagant claims for infinite amounts of
time--and pay for it.
Would this work? What legal issues would be involved. Naturally, there is
intense lobbying by the RIAA and others to have extensive rights for free. What
about extensive rights that *aren't* so free?
Watch them drop the extensive claims like a rock when a teeny-tiny tax is placed
on them. One way to avoid the tragedy of the commons is to tax those who use
the commons. (Or, just indemnify those who use the commons from all except
those who pay taxes to have the right to defend their "IP").
In other words: IP, software patents, perpetual copyright. Sure! Sign here on
the dotted line. Make the system *really* corrupt. More payola for the
politicians! Now there's a bandwagon they can all support. Hell, couple it
with plenty of gravy for the RIAA and MPAA to make them swallow the tax-bait.
Offer them *more* than they will loose in taxes. Heh, heh.
If I'm going to be an intellectual serf of the RIAA, MPAA, FCC, and big
companies, I want (as a member of the public) to be a *well compensated serf*.
No Non-Representation with Non-Taxation![ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: digger53 on Friday, March 26 2004 @ 07:16 PM EST |
I started to read "a few pages" & just now noticed I was
at p. 62. Food for thought, while thought is still free...
---
"Who can rob us of out free will? No such man exists." Epictetus[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: star-dot-h on Sunday, March 28 2004 @ 07:16 PM EST |
I bought this book from my local shop's best sellers list. Great read is was
too. Imagine my surprise when I later noticed it had been published under the
Creative Commons licence - and a Top 10 Best Seller. Bloody communists.
(Interesting aside, the book was a collaborative effort by four Italiens - they
picked their "author" after the name of an English footballer who
after one year in the Italian league built up a cult following of anarchists due
to his hopelessness at the game. Poor old Luther was not amused.).[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, March 29 2004 @ 05:08 AM EST |
Internet culture is international culture not American culture. This book misses
the vast majority of internet culture because is is basically parochial.
References like 'as old as the republic', 'American Way' etc. (and there are
numerous ones), simply means the book misses the point. The social structures
produced by the internet not only help reduce the stifling power of corporations
weilding their armoury, but also powerful nations weilding theirs. Unfortunately
while recognising the first problem, Lessig consistently props up the old status
quo regarding the latter.[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, March 30 2004 @ 04:42 PM EST |
This is from my local Linux users' group:
..."Now, I would be more than happy to discuss the values of Linux over
windows... This argument comes up often between me and my more geeky
friends.... and I seem to be the only person on the Linux side.... A few
points I have not been able to find any counter arguments to the fact
that Linux GUI's do not have a maximized window state..... And im having
trouble using the 'monolithic' point..... can anyone help me with this?
I would like a solid way to prove that windows is a monolithic operating
system..."
Can anyone suggest an answer that I could post (either anonymously or with only
a reference to Groklaw, your choice)? I don't have the knowledge.
Thx
Idontdowindows
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
|
|
|
|
