|
Lawrence Lessig on Technology
|
|
|
Free culture movement: oppose excessively strict copyright
Lessig is a founding father of the free culture movement, which opposes excessively strict copyright rules, on the grounds that they restrict creativity.
He co-founded Creative Commons to promote the free sharing of cultural content online and has served on the boards of Free Software Foundation, Software Freedom Law Center and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Source: Religion News 2015 article on 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Sep 8, 2015
Digital technologies let amateurs create for love, not money
One of the most important byproducts of digital technologies, not yet really recognized, or if recognized, not quite enough, is its capacity to enable a wider range of artists to create. We don't have a good word for these artists, if only because the
proper word has been maligned by generations of a different culture. But the proper word for these creators is "amateur"--people who create for the love of the creating, and not for the money.To us, at least us Americans, today, the word "amateurs"
has a very different connotation. It connotes a second class of creators; creators who are inferior to the professional. We think of the guitarist who tried to make it as a rocker during his 20s, and instead became an investment banker in his 30s.
Digital technologies are expanding the opportunity for these amateurs. The obvious case is the rock band, still not good enough to get a record deal, but who can sell enough digital downloads for it to make sense to keep the band going.
Source: Foreword to "Freesouls: Captured and Released," by L. Lessig
, Aug 1, 2008
Page last updated: Aug 18, 2016