Five Minutes With: Lawrence Lessig
By Mark Pike and Peter Backoff
Thursday July 6, 2006
As the first generation to grow up online, a lot of us take the internet for granted, and too few of us think of the internet itself as a political issue. But powerful forces are teaming up to change the basic structure of the internet, threatening what has become a fundamental institution of modern society. Right now, any kid in a dorm room can set up a website as easily as a Fortune 500 company because access to the information superhighway is neutral. “Net neutrality” is the principle that preserves an open internet that allows for free speech and civic participation, allowing tiny blogs the same access to users as AT&T. In a net neutral system, the network just moves the data you want, you know, like a (super) highway; it doesn’t choose what data to provide. But now, internet providers like Comcast and Verizon are spending plenty of money lobbying Congress to destroy net neutrality, as a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act is being debated on the Hill.
Luckily, people like Lawrence Lessig are fighting back. A former young Republican and smart-guy law professor specializing in internet law at Stanford, Lessig is one of the leading advocates for net neutrality and a staunch supporter of “free culture.” Known as the "Elvis of Cyber Law," he drops hip-hop references into his lectures, is up on all the coolest viral videos, and has a profile on Facebook. The author of last year’s Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity, Lessig has won numerous awards including Scientific American’s Top 50 Visionaries, for arguing "against interpretations of copyright that could stifle innovation and discourse online." (And just to add one more feather to his cap, we’ll note that in 1985 Lessig famously smuggled a heart valve device into the Soviet Union in the crotch of his pants to help a Jewish dissident.)
Lessig chatted briefly with Campus Progress over email (naturally) about Facebook, copyrights, and saving the internet.
 You recently gave a lecture at the Center for American Progress in the nation’s capital (your "least favorite city") about "The Withering of the Net: How DC pathologies are undermining the growth and wealth of the net." Currently, it seems that a group of rich old white men are making some important decisions about a technology they don’t fully comprehend and didn’t grow up with. How can young people, the most plugged-in generation, speak up and influence the outcome of this debate?
If Congress does what it promises to do—kill the mandated neutrality of the internet—then you can count on the most interesting features of the internet being driven out. Young people can help us flood Congress with the demand that they not sell out the internet to the telecom and cable companies.
How do we do this without sounding like a bunch of whiny kids who just want to download the new Beyonce and Jay-Z duet for free?
By showing them the fantastically creative stuff kids are producing and need fast cheap broadband to share.
How can universities, as important contributing architects of the internet, be affected by net neutrality legislation?
Imagine your public library being sold to Barnes and Noble: That’s what will happen if neutrality legislation fails. The internet will be shifted to prefer a single, narrow vision of content. The diversity of content it now supports will be narrowed.
Do you think that young people understand what’s at stake in the battle for control of the internet? If not, what is it going to take?
Not yet. It is going to take a clearer message to get them to see. Maybe something like: Look at TV. That’s how boring they want the internet to be.
Why does it seem as though a disproportionate number of college students are targeted in lawsuits by the MPAA and RIAA?
Because it is easier to monitor behavior at college. Welcome to the panopticon!
You’ve been called "The Elvis of Cyber Law." Does that infringe on Mr. Presley’s copyrighted image?
You’ll have to ask his estate.
What are some of the websites and software that you utilize on a daily basis and what do you love about them?
BoingBoing, and joi.ito.com—smart, clear, right (as in correct)
For some reason, I have this gut feeling nobody from today’s digital generation will be able to run for office because there’s incriminating photos on everybody’s Facebook profiles. Do people share too much? Will our collective consciences learn to absolve our collective memories?
Maybe we do share too much, but we’ll learn to accommodate.
Finally, will you be our friend on Facebook?
Sure. I’ve got no standards…
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Comments
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I have heard something about this before on an article written and posted at The New Republic. I would have liked to have known why this debate is not broadcast to some of the more connected TV, magazine, and youth mediums. Companies such as MTV, BET, youth magazines, Yahoo, etc. should be keeping this information out there. Youth are apathetic about many political issues, but if we ALL knew about this one…I do not think we would “go gentle into that good night”. How can we get this out there and inform youth on a large, effective scale?
— Corey Ponder - Jul 7, 02:20 PM - #It seems like this debate can reach a fairly straightforward, sensible “third way” solution. Maintain neutrality by assuring all broadband providers make available a basic and growing level of open, unmanaged Internet access.
BUT, let broadband make money to innovate and invest in infrastructure to provide and charge for higher quality of service levels.
No one complains that broadband costs more than dial-up! Everyone should have basic access, but as you get into super high bandwidth and speed levels, why not let pricing fund innovation?
Most important: enforce transparency in broadband provider policies!
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