On Larry Lessig TED Talk

Lessig Rocking a Creative Commons Tee

 

My generation is probably the first to use the internet to 'write' back using computer technologies and the internet. Growing up I remember DOS, floppy discs, the change to CDs, and the dawn of the internet. I'm only twenty-six but my father jumped on computers in the early nineties and is a computer technician to this day.

Uses for the internet have grown at an incredible rate. So much so, I even have a hard time keeping up. What happened to building your own webpage? How do I use RSS feeds? Why do I need to have a hundred accounts and what is the purpose of Twitter (Seems inanely pointless to me)?

Still creating content, remixing content, copyright wars - I completely understand what Lessig is talking about. Napster was a huge debate when I was in high school. As a teen I hated Metallica for instigating the shutdown of peer-to-peer sharing (though I couldn't deny the awesomeness of Enter the Sandman). The point was clear: the internet openned new thresholds for thieving.

But what about these grey areas, such as the examples in Lessig's speech? This isn't for consumerism. This isn't harmful to the original creators. But shouldn't credit be given? What about privacy? Maybe public figures don't want to become paper talking heads. Or maybe Warner Brothers doesn't want Harry Potter characters to be shipped or slashed in videos. It's complicated debate.

Personally, I enjoy remix culture, but I understand why some are fighting for stricter control.

Source Video:

Larry Lessig: How Creativity is being Strangled by the Law