DescentBB

\"Free Culture\" is a book written by the famous intellectual Lawrence Lessig, of EFF fame. The book is available free as a PDF download from: http://www.free-culture.cc/freeculture.pdf (2.5MB)

It is a well written book, despite (I imagine) almost every reader wanting to slap him a couple of times where he admits he made grave errors of judgment in the Eldred case at the Supreme Court.

What he has to say makes sense though, and there's quite a bit of fascinating history in there too.

Don't be put off by the number of pages: The last 80 are references, and the pages don't have a lot of text.

I consider myself to be more on the libertarian side of things than he is, which makes me bloody liberal I guess! (This despite me adopting several very conservative stances on some recent issues! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME????)

Well worth the read.

Mobius wrote:I consider myself to be more on the libertarian side of things than he is, which makes me bloody liberal I guess! (This despite me adopting several very conservative stances on some recent issues! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME????).

Maturity, probably. You're coming to terms with your inability to heavy-handedly control peoples' behaviour, but at the same time realize that your own values don't need to be compromised or silenced. I figured that out when I was about 15.

Mobius wrote:(This despite me adopting several very conservative stances on some recent issues! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME????)

"If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain." - Sir Winston Churchill

What's the book about? Why should I take the time to read it?

Lothar wrote:What's the book about? Why should I take the time to read it?

It's about the epidemic expansion of copyright restrictions throughout the 20th century, why this is destructive to the creative process (hint: lawyers) and some alternative systems which are more balanced between the private interests and the public interests.

Heh Will!

I guess I am a liberal conservative then!

Or is that a conservative liberal?

I certainly don't want to be a \"compassionate conservative\" though!

Mobius wrote:...I certainly don't want to be a "compassionate conservative" though!

I think being a real one would be logical, pragmatic and approaching perfection. But being a politician who poses as one to facilitate herding his sheeple to the polls however....

One thing that I found when talking to others about this(who haven't yet read it) that I don't recall Mr. Lessig mentioning is the large problem of apathy among the masses. I suggested Mr. Lessig's idea, and their response ranged from \"not necessary\" before I summarized it, to \"music is already free\" afterwards.