Last Free Culture lecture, first thought about what to do about political corruption

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Lessig

So this Thursday, January 31, at 1:00pm, at Memorial Auditorium on the Stanford Campus (directions) (map), I will be giving my last lecture about “Free Culture.” The event is a bit staged (literally), as it is being sponsored by an entity making a film about these issues, and they want the lecture to use in the film. But the venue is beautiful, and I will also use the opportunity to map out one plan for addressing the problem of “corruption” (as I’ve described it) in politics. I’ve now finished a draft of the talk; for those who have seen me speak before, it is new (almost completely new — maybe 1% are must have slides from the past). For those who haven’t seen me speak before, it will be a nice map of where this debate has been, and where I think I want to go. Any questions about logistics, send an email here.

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20 Responses to Last Free Culture lecture, first thought about what to do about political corruption

  1. Seth Finkelstein says:
    January 28, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    I’ll just push my column on this topic, which is a basically an open letter here:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/25/comment.intellectualproperty

    I tried :-(.

  3. Scott Cummings says:
    January 28, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    I’m disappointed I won’t be able to make it. Will there be a video posted anywhere online? The TED video has been a great resource for me when advocating CC.

  4. Paul Jacobson says:
    January 28, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    Hi Larry

    Is this talk going to be recorded and published on its own?

  5. Stefan Hayden says:
    January 28, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    I certainly look forward to the new talk.

  6. Crosbie Fitch says:
    January 28, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    I look forward to the day when you can use the term ‘Free Culture’ without surrounding it with scare quotes. Perhaps this will be the same day you cease defining free culture as a culture in which the author is free to determine the use of their work.

    Free culture is a culture in which the public are no longer subject to the author’s control, and may make free use of published works without authorisation.

    Thanks to Creative Commons, the author may well be more easily able to abstain from exploiting their unethical privilege of copyright and cease consigning it to less scrupulous publishers, but let’s remember that the author is restoring the public’s right to cultural freedom.

    Free culture is not the author’s gift to give, but a suspended right to restore – in full.

    Free culture is the public’s right, and it’s time copyright was abolished.

    For without copyright we need no longer rely upon far too few conscientious authors who object to wielding their unethical privileges in this second age of enlightenment.

    Perhaps your final lecture will reveal your true colours?

  7. mike charlton says:
    January 28, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    I would love to see either a transcript or a video as well. Good luck.

  8. Jardinero1 says:
    January 29, 2008 at 1:38 am

    I don’t understand the fetish about politcal corruption. In a democracy there is a highly effective counter punch to corruption. It’s always been there and still is. It’s called voting for the other guy. If that guy turns out corrupt then you vote for the other guy again, and again; repeat ad infinitum.

  9. jesse says:
    January 29, 2008 at 2:29 am

    would you please tell us who is making the movie? Is it a documentary, feature film, etc?

  10. Steve Baba says:
    January 29, 2008 at 5:25 am

    I would second (or third) the suggestion on the Wiki that Lessig “read or reread,” The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson.
    http://www.amazon.com/Logic-Collective-Action-printing-appendix/dp/0674537513/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201556716&sr=8-1
    While an outsider can sometimes bring a different view to problems, it looks to me that Lessig is reinventing the wheel.

    Totally unrelated to collective action, but Olson’s most overused cliché’s was he was “Standing on shoulders of giants” and he encouraged his students to do the same.

  11. Seth Finkelstein says:
    January 29, 2008 at 6:07 am

    Worse than re-inventing the wheel, I fear the inventions of the wheeler-dealers (i.e. the cadre of hucksters who hype data-mining businesses, especially those using large amount of unpaid work, as the model for a new society).

  12. Robert says:
    January 29, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    Corruption in politics is common. I dont think it will be stop in future.
    Seattle Divorce Attorney Robert

  13. poptones says:
    January 30, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Man Seth, what is it with this hippie idealism? Tell me this: how many people benefit from wikipedia? I mean, how many poor kids, rich kids, old kids, get a reference library in their home essentially for nothing? Not everyone contributes articles to wikipedia, but everyone who visits gets the same end access to the reference materials. Why is it “evil” to seek ways to make money on that infrastructure if you are the guy who started it, marketed it, essentially built it?

    The evil is not in the making or the mining, only perhaps in the details of how these things are done. Claiming you “fear” something is not a valid impeachment. I “fear” jumping out of moving cars and seeing close up views of waterfalls on movie screens; one is a valid fear backed up by objective cause-and-effect relationships – the other is simply my own phobia playing on my psyche. We all need to strive to tell the difference even when it’s very hard.

  14. late says:
    January 31, 2008 at 7:30 am

    if the wheel doesn’t work, it bears reinventing.

  15. susy struble says:
    February 1, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    Could you add abolishing the practice of riders to your list of targets?

  17. pb says:
    February 3, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    “Thanks to Creative Commons, the author may well be more easily able to abstain from exploiting their unethical privilege of copyright and cease consigning it to less scrupulous publishers”

    Translation: The author can abstain from receiving royalties and cease to get paid. Then, maybe find another job.

    There’s a sucker born every minute.

  18. Dannie says:
    June 4, 2008 at 4:29 am

    How inspiring Randy Pausch is! If you liked “The Last Lecture”, another fantastic memoir I just read and highly recommend is “My Stroke of Insight” by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Her TEDTalk video (ted.com) has been seen as many times as The Last Lecture I think, and Oprah did 4 shows on her book, so there are a lot of similarities. In My Stroke of Insight, there’s a happy ending though. It’s an incredible story! I hear they’re making it into a movie.

  19. Nattben says:
    December 4, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    wow this book is so bad
    and by the way finklestiern, get a f**k’n life man

  20. Carole Farah says:
    December 4, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    im really stupid so i didn’t read the book but i heard its good.
    By the way Finklestien, call me for a good time 😉

    i love u cameron anger

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