Lawrence Lessig is very concerned about big media’s influence on intellectual property laws in the United States. In Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, Lessig details the history of intellectual property and “free culture” in America, and explains why current regulations are running counter to historic precedent in this regard. Lessig argues that big media is destroying the traditional freedom to create cultural material that builds on the output of others, all in the name of profit: “For the first time in our tradition, the ordinary ways in which individuals create and share culture fall within the reach of the regulation of the law, which has expanded to draw within its control a vast amount of culture and creativity that it never reached before” (8). He walks through recent court cases and victories for large media entities like Disney, and outlines his own efforts as a lawyer to oppose extending copyright terms and granting more power to major media companies. Make no mistake: Lessig doesn’t believe in abolishing property rights. He is a firm believer in intellectual property rights—as long as they are reasonable and measured. Although Lessig focuses on the film, music, and popular book industry, his arguments have a clear resonance for scholarship as well. The more restrictive licensing is on material that should be in the public domain, or at least publicly accessible for easy consumption and re-use, the less freedom people have to engage with this intellectual and creative output in the ways that they have traditionally been able to.

 

Work cited

Lessig, Lawrence. 2004. Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: The Penguin Press.