residual ghosts

Posted on November 6, 2005 by Lessig

I’ve gotten a bunch of emails recently from people asking whether the NJ Supreme Court has ruled in the Boychoir case. (See Living with Ghosts). The matter has now returned to the blogosphere in an extensive piece by a sympathetic writer.

The answer is no. Though we argued the case almost a year ago (11/29), there’s no word from the Court. I am very surprised at the delay — indeed, a bit worried the delay is in part because of the New York Magazine article. I feel so stupid that I didn’t get a commitment from them not to publish the article before the case was decided. When they told me when they expected it would run, it was months beyond the normal time it take the NJ Supreme Court to decide cases. Anyway, bottom line — no word yet.

Posted in eye | 2 Comments

Google joins Yahoo!

Posted on November 4, 2005 by Lessig

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At an event for potential donors to Creative Commons last night, a representative from Google announced that Google’s “advanced search” would now allow results to be filtered by Creative Commons licenses.

This is of course very exciting news. It confirms a decision Yahoo! made months ago when it revealed a (much more explicitly Creative Commons) search portal. Ever since I had the chance to meet with the top Yahoo! executives over a year ago, I’ve known that Yahoo!’s future depends upon building creator-approved freedoms. Their joining with Flickr! is just part of this overall, creator-driven strategy. That meeting convinced me that Yahoo! understood more than most the growth and innovation that can be built through these creativity communities. And that’s of course what Creative Commons believes as well.

Google’s move here is therefore reassuring. I’m hopeful it signals a much broader recognition. I’ve been a staunch defender of Google’s fair use of creative content. That’s the subject of this month’s column in Wired. But as well as fair use rights, which we all should defend, there will be important growth enabled by making it easier for creators and authors to exercise their freedom to enable others to build up or share their work. This is the thing Yahoo! seems to get, imho. That the rest of the world gets it is my strongest hope.

Posted in creative commons | 5 Comments

buttons galore

Posted on October 31, 2005 by Lessig

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So some smart folks suggested we start passing out buttons for the CC fundraising campaign. We like smart folks (or at least some smart folks), and so we did. Go here to get a button. Please. Pretty please. Or whatever form of please will get you to go.

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bravo Microsoft

Posted on October 28, 2005 by Lessig

It is a common (and very good complaint) that there are too many free and open source software licenses. Multiplicity weakens interoperability. Interoperability of innovation is key.

For sometime, Microsoft has been playing in this community. Its “Shared Source Initiative” has given at least some access to important Microsoft code.

Last week, Microsoft made a major announcement that will benefit the ecology of free and open source software licenses significantly. As described here, Microsoft has abandoned a ton of licenses, focusing its efforts on just three core licenses. Two of these three licenses — the MS-Community License (MS-CL), and the MS-Permissive License (MS-PL) are technically “free” licenses under the FSF’s definition of free. The third MS-Reference License (MS-RL) is a view-only license, not quite free, but valuable nonetheless.

This is fantastic news, reinforcing an ecology of free licenses.

Posted in Good news | 47 Comments

on the monarchy we’ve become

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Lessig

I’ve just arrived in Munich, on my way to Slovenia to launch CC Slovenia. Al Gore was on the flight. The plane was not configured to have a First Class (only Business Class) but they apparently had set aside a private part of the plane where he (and I believe his son) were seated.

Last week I remarked on the oddness to me of the Norwegian democracy, where the leader stood in line at a bakery. (Ok, not the monarchy, but the government). This week I feel the oddness the other way round. It felt out of place for a man like Gore to be on an ordinary Lufthansa flight. It didn’t seem appropriate. Again, for no good democratic reason — the man’s a citizen; he’s going about a citizen’s life. But for some reason, it didn’t feel right to me.

Not a pretty recognition for a democrat (small d). Maybe it’s just me. Maybe not. Or maybe it is just the melencholy of regret that being reminded of this man produces. Imagine the world if… Or don’t. That is too depressing.

Posted in on the road | 21 Comments

Cyberweek

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Lessig

The University of Massachusetts launches Cyberweek Sunday. The discussion series is hosted by the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution (odr.info), and covers a wide range of ethics and eLawyering topics.

Posted in good code | 18 Comments

more competition in the copyright watch market

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Lessig

A lot of smart IP sorts have started a blog about copyright. The title says it all: Copyrightwatch.ca: Debunking copyright myths, one post at a time. Myths or not, there’s lots of very thoughtful stuff there.

Posted in free culture | 1 Comment

CC in review

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Lessig

Here’s week 3 in my letters about Creative Commons.

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leaving Norway

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Lessig

I’m about to leave Norway for the second time. This trip was a bit different from the last. I spoke at a conference sponsored by the Network for IT Research and Competence in Education (ITU). The government in Norway has recently changed, and there’s lots of work being done to get some good thinking about matters digital.

Norway is an extraordinarily beautiful country, filled with brilliantly tri-lingual and warm people. Yet each time I travel out of the country these days, my thoughts are more brought back home than on the place I am. One cab driver had emigrated from Pakistan. He raged with anger at our “self-defeating” war. In another conversation, one of my hosts remarked that he lived in the same neighborhood as the Prime Minister, and would often see him answering questions as he “waited in line at the bakery.”

It’s hard to imagine a world where national leaders stand in line to buy bread. It’s not hard to see why such leadership would be so different from our own. There’s a perspective that our leaders cannot have. Sadly, as it is a perspective that would return an essential wisdom to these high offices.

Posted in on the road | 2 Comments

an odd lessig-blog entry

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Lessig

So Veni Markovski, source of many many great things, especially in Bulgaria (including cc-Bulgaria), asked me to mention a film, The Optimists, which will debut in New York on October 21st. The film is about the Bulgarian conspiracy to save Jews from concentration camps. Veni says it is a fantastic movie.

(For the record: I don’t do movie recommendations except if they come from Veni. So if you ever want your movie mentioned on my blog, don’t ask me. Ask Veni.)

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