#2 - Lawrence Lessig: Remix, Copyright by the laws of humanity

Lessig, L. (2008). Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. New York: The Penguin Press.

He continues:

Comparing to the Pokeman characters in Japanese media culture he shows how a different society to the US encourages identity with numerous characters and "created" characters rather than one omni-potent character or one RO ("Read-only") character(p.78)

Instead of the focus being, "Here's something, do something with it," the focus in the US is instead, "Here's something, buy it" (p.80)

Remix and sampling is just the same as what we've been doing throughout history with citing sources in our written documents (p.82). And this is exactly what I am doing here. I assume L. Lessig would approve.

He remembers with glee the day his own kid challenged the plot of a "monster man" story in favor of his own made up plot shift. The creative mind he asserts is not RO but is more inclined towards RW (Read-write) culture (p.87).

Creativity in media and remixing will generate more revenue for media companies because of the need for the production tools (p.88).

The complexity of media content will determine its value or its ability to be appreciated in and of itself. With RW and RO culture together we will generate more interesting content and the competition will be greater for better content.

The law is inclined towards protecting RO culture to the detriment of RW culture. Lessig says they can and must co-habit.

We may have to pay for electronic access to an e-book every time we access it. Unlike the book in my hands right now which I can read, reread, loan, or give to someone to read, an e-book may have a cost attached every time it is viewed. This is a fundamental shift in the way we share information and are charged for it(p.100).

This access to RO information was challenged by the tape recorder and the VCR and they did not kill the RO culture. The economy survived.

The law is reaching to the amateur for the first time to regulate how we recreate. Used to be, we could cite and recreate. Now we are in danger of being compelled to pay through the nose to "cite" media sources.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004 said that every sample used in a remix triggered copyright law, regardless of the size of the sample (p.104)

Why would the system stop this creativity by economic strangulation? "no good reason, save inertia and the forces that like the world frozen as it is" (Lessig, 2008, p.105). Lawyers continue to reap the benefits of strong business.

The law is making our creative youth criminals for doing what is second nature to humans. This second nature is to write/create new work by citing your sources.

"We need to decriminalize creativity before we further criminalize a generation of our kids" (Lessig, 2008, p.114)