JZ's review of REMIX

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Lessig

Zittrain’s got a very smart (if I don’t say so myself) review of REMIX in Nature. Note, the UK edition of REMIX is published by Bloomsbury Academic, not Penguin. And Bloomsbury Academic will be releasing the work under a CC license.

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6 Responses to JZ's review of REMIX

  1. Seth Finkelstein says:
    February 4, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Indeed, very thoughtful. But I would beg to draw your attention to Tom Slee’s more skeptical review:


    http://whimsley.typepad.com/whimsley/2009/01/lawrence-lessigs-remix-a-rambling-review.html

    “There is a third change brought about by digital technology. It makes it possible for a few people to make unprecedented amounts of money from other people playing. As with the law, it is now possible to make money not just by selling us a toy to play with, but each and every time we play with it. Facebook, Youtube and other sites are, as Remix admits, increasingly driven by advertising. While Lessig is incensed at the raising of a generation of criminals, he is unfazed at the thought of raising a generation of commodities, whose attention and interest is a source of revenue for some venture capitalist.”

  2. Seth Finkelstein says:
    February 4, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    [Trying again, since first try hit the spam-trap. Delete if/when first try approved]

    Indeed, very thoughtful. But I would beg to draw your attention to Tom Slee’s more skeptical review:

    whimsley.typepad.com/whimsley/2009/01/lawrence-lessigs-remix-a-rambling-review.html

    “There is a third change brought about by digital technology. It makes it possible for a few people to make unprecedented amounts of money from other people playing. As with the law, it is now possible to make money not just by selling us a toy to play with, but each and every time we play with it. Facebook, Youtube and other sites are, as Remix admits, increasingly driven by advertising. While Lessig is incensed at the raising of a generation of criminals, he is unfazed at the thought of raising a generation of commodities, whose attention and interest is a source of revenue for some venture capitalist.”

  3. M. David Peterson says:
    February 5, 2009 at 2:41 am

    @Seth:

    Two things:

    1) How is this argument any different than the argument that Google (or any search engine for that matter) generates its revenue slurping from the bottomless content cup that is the Free Internet? Or, to bring this to a more personal level, how is this any different than the Guardian (or any news and/or commentary agency for that matter) generating its revenue from the bottomless content cup that is the Free World? In each example, somebody is gaining profit off of something they haven’t — in /most/ cases — paid the contents creator for.

    2) You’re mixing together a legal argument — that of the reasoning and justification for applying 20th century copyright laws to 21st century usage of copyrighted material — with an argument based on a personal pet-peeve.

    Why?

  4. Seth Finkelstein says:
    February 5, 2009 at 5:24 am

    1) I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree on this point – comment boxes don’t work well for philosophical dissertations on ethical nuances of social transactions.

    2) I’ll quote the concluding section of Tom Slee’s review in reply (note these are his words, not mine):

    “Lessig is recognized as a leader of admirable efforts to introduce copyright reform issue. The legal reforms which he briefly sketches in the final part of the book are well thought out and practical: deregulating amateur creativity, establishing clear title, simplifying copyright, decriminalizing the copy, and decriminalizing file sharing. His suggestions for changes we need to our norms are also fine so far as they go: extending the norms that govern text (the right to quote small parts of text for example) [275] to other areas of culture where there is no such leeway [104]; making copyright “opt-in” rather than “opt-out”, and “rediscovering the limits of regulation”. But that last one is a marker of the failings of the book. Ironically timed, given the current financial mess, Remix misses the point that we need also to learn the limits of markets, and the dangers of commodification.”

    [I realize I’m treading thin ice here – but I really hope Lessig thinks about this critique.]

  5. Dalila says:
    February 5, 2009 at 7:10 am

    The URL you linked to displays this:

    To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).

    The irony, the irony…

  6. james says:
    February 5, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Shit Larry when i saw the title JZ,
    i thought you were referring to the R&B artist of the same name!
    Shame, but Zittrain’ll do.

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