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The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
The Internet revolution has come. Some say it has gone. In The Future of Ideas , Lawrence Lessig explains how the revolution has produced a counterrevolution of potentially devastating power and effect. Creativity once flourished because the Net protected a commons on which widest range of innovators could experiment. But now, manipulating the law for their own purposes, corporations have established themselves as virtual gatekeepers of the Net while Congress, in the pockets of media magnates, has rewritten copyright and patent laws to stifle creativity and progress.
Lessig weaves the history of technology and its relevant laws to make a lucid and accessible case to protect the sanctity of intellectual freedom. He shows how the door to a future of ideas is being shut just as technology is creating extraordinary possibilities that have implications for all of us. Vital, eloquent, judicious and forthright, The Future of Ideas is a call to arms that we can ill afford to ignore.
Lessig weaves the history of technology and its relevant laws to make a lucid and accessible case to protect the sanctity of intellectual freedom. He shows how the door to a future of ideas is being shut just as technology is creating extraordinary possibilities that have implications for all of us. Vital, eloquent, judicious and forthright, The Future of Ideas is a call to arms that we can ill afford to ignore.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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2850 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Lessig
66 books482 followersLawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications.
He is a director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University and a professor of law at Harvard Law School. Prior to rejoining Harvard, he was a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society.
Lessig is a founding board member of Creative Commons, a board member of the Software Freedom Law Center and a former board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
He is a director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University and a professor of law at Harvard Law School. Prior to rejoining Harvard, he was a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society.
Lessig is a founding board member of Creative Commons, a board member of the Software Freedom Law Center and a former board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
July 11, 2021
Twenty years after it was written, this book has sadly not aged well. Larry Lessig is a smart guy, and I remember reading and loving this book's prequel, "Code," when it first came out. Lessig was brilliant. And he was on the right side of everything. He had smart answers for all of the copyright maximalists. He wanted to keep the internet as an engine for creativity and innovation and had dire warnings that it might go in another direction. Maybe we needed someone to give us dire warnings about the Internet back in 2001, but the warnings that we got from Lessig turned out not to be the things that we should have been worrying about.
To be fair, there are some things that Lessig got right and that we still need to be concerned about today. He was right about the importance of the end to end architecture of the internet. He was right about the importance of open source. Net neutrality was not yet named when he wrote this book but he anticipated it as a concern, and it's still an issue today. But even with Napster crushed and Lessig having lost his campaign to limit the term of copyright, the internet and the threat of free turned the music business on its head, giving us iTunes, Pandora and then Spotify and all of its clones. All of the noise from Hollywood that seemed so threatening back then has been replaced with a totally different kind of threat from Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ et al. The net has matured and perhaps is not the frenzied engine of innovation that it once was, but that has been a more or less natural development that wasn't caused by risks that Lessig warned of. And there is still plenty of innovation going on. Lessig's vision of spectrum being treated as commons hasn't happened, but the build out of 5G will probably make most of his concerns obsolete. It's just a different set of issues today. When Lessig talks about MP3.com as an important innovative company and when he tells us that the future of the internet was going to be in the hands of Microsoft and AOL/Time Warner, it's hard to stifle a guffaw. I probably couldn't have done much better back in 2001, but it just goes to show the hazards of trying to write a book about the future of anything.
To be fair, there are some things that Lessig got right and that we still need to be concerned about today. He was right about the importance of the end to end architecture of the internet. He was right about the importance of open source. Net neutrality was not yet named when he wrote this book but he anticipated it as a concern, and it's still an issue today. But even with Napster crushed and Lessig having lost his campaign to limit the term of copyright, the internet and the threat of free turned the music business on its head, giving us iTunes, Pandora and then Spotify and all of its clones. All of the noise from Hollywood that seemed so threatening back then has been replaced with a totally different kind of threat from Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ et al. The net has matured and perhaps is not the frenzied engine of innovation that it once was, but that has been a more or less natural development that wasn't caused by risks that Lessig warned of. And there is still plenty of innovation going on. Lessig's vision of spectrum being treated as commons hasn't happened, but the build out of 5G will probably make most of his concerns obsolete. It's just a different set of issues today. When Lessig talks about MP3.com as an important innovative company and when he tells us that the future of the internet was going to be in the hands of Microsoft and AOL/Time Warner, it's hard to stifle a guffaw. I probably couldn't have done much better back in 2001, but it just goes to show the hazards of trying to write a book about the future of anything.
January 11, 2019
This book is a great exploration of a "third way" in governance alongside private markets and bureaucratic control. Lessig does for the Internet what Elinor Ostrom did for environmental resources in _Governing the Commons_: both draw attention to the overlooked possibility of decentralized institutions for governing common-pool resources.
As an introduction to the politics and law of the Internet, I often wondered how current or out-of-date some of Lessig's technical and factual claims were. To that effect, this book probably works best as an introduction to the history of Internet politics rather than a primer on contemporary issues.
Lessig comes across as a moderate and temperate voice throughout the book--his refrain throughout on most policy questions is "Wait and see." Lessig seems most impressed by the danger of bad, sticky regulation that will undermine the fundamentally valuable aspects of common access resources. One of Lessig's most important points, drawn from an exceptional paper "The Comedy of the Commons" by law professor Carol Rose, is that in cases where we are 1) uncertain about the future value of a resource, we should be more disposed to treat a resource as a commons, and 2) resources that experience increasing returns to scale are most efficiently allocated as commons rather than as private property or state ownership. We have been too quick to see tragedies of the commons and diminishing returns and overlooked the role of increasing returns. It strikes me that Lessig and Rose's point here about increasing returns is a plausible and much clearer way to reconstruct objections to commodification made by people like Sandel and Walzer.
As an introduction to the politics and law of the Internet, I often wondered how current or out-of-date some of Lessig's technical and factual claims were. To that effect, this book probably works best as an introduction to the history of Internet politics rather than a primer on contemporary issues.
Lessig comes across as a moderate and temperate voice throughout the book--his refrain throughout on most policy questions is "Wait and see." Lessig seems most impressed by the danger of bad, sticky regulation that will undermine the fundamentally valuable aspects of common access resources. One of Lessig's most important points, drawn from an exceptional paper "The Comedy of the Commons" by law professor Carol Rose, is that in cases where we are 1) uncertain about the future value of a resource, we should be more disposed to treat a resource as a commons, and 2) resources that experience increasing returns to scale are most efficiently allocated as commons rather than as private property or state ownership. We have been too quick to see tragedies of the commons and diminishing returns and overlooked the role of increasing returns. It strikes me that Lessig and Rose's point here about increasing returns is a plausible and much clearer way to reconstruct objections to commodification made by people like Sandel and Walzer.
December 19, 2013
After watching an interview of Lawrence Lessig back on the old TechTV channel, I was fascinated by his views on copyright and the public domain. I immediately researched him on the internet and walked down to my nearby Borders to pick up this book.
This book became the basis that helped me define my views on the public domain and digital rights management (DRM). Every time I see large corporations use DRM as a way for content control rather than the protection of ideas, it makes me cringe and think of this book. Because of copyright, do you think all of our music today is going to be passed from generation to generation like the public domain works of Mozart or Beethoven? Would we have amazing hip hop beats if there were no grey area of mixing music?
After reading this book it might open up your mind and think about supporting the Creative Commons rights management.
Finally, this book is also a great foundation when discussing topics like the DMCA or net neutrality.
This book became the basis that helped me define my views on the public domain and digital rights management (DRM). Every time I see large corporations use DRM as a way for content control rather than the protection of ideas, it makes me cringe and think of this book. Because of copyright, do you think all of our music today is going to be passed from generation to generation like the public domain works of Mozart or Beethoven? Would we have amazing hip hop beats if there were no grey area of mixing music?
After reading this book it might open up your mind and think about supporting the Creative Commons rights management.
Finally, this book is also a great foundation when discussing topics like the DMCA or net neutrality.
Read
June 19, 2014I am a Lessig fan. That said, I think this was a very good book and would be a good read for anyone interested in intellectual property especially as related to technology.
Two good issues discussed in the text were the idea of the commons verses ownership and the idea of regulation in advance. The first issue discussed the illusion that just because it is better to have some things as property (controlled by the market) it is better to have everything controlled as property. Thus, the illusion continues, more control is always better. Furthermore, the illusion states, if you fight against more control, you are against control completely. Lessig pointed out that this is not the case. We have things owned in common (highways were a common example) and things owned privately. Balance must be achieved even in the physical world. Even more so in the digital world. More so because in the digital world resources have little to no possibility of being used up. Thus, we must consider them as separate from physical property. Ownership will not disappear in the digital world, however, it should not be given a priori; its benefits should be demonstrated by those who want to claim it as property.
The second issue was in response to the fact that many laws and regulations are being made in relation to the expected consequences of new technologies. However, these things limit the use of new technologies and stifle innovation in favor of existing (usually large) companies. The existing parties that are in favor of these regulations thus shift the burden of proving usefulness onto new technologies. Yet if a technology cannot play around in the real world, how is one to determine whether or not there is a use/market for it?
This book is thought provoking and well written. There were some things (mainly the proposed solutions to existing problems) that I felt would have some bugs in implementation, but that did not distract from the book. In fact, they rather prove the point. They were brainstorming, innovation. We cannot know if those methods are right without looking into them more deeply. Similarly, digital technology and intellectual property cannot be treated like physical property. There may be some analogies, but there are also profound differences.
Two good issues discussed in the text were the idea of the commons verses ownership and the idea of regulation in advance. The first issue discussed the illusion that just because it is better to have some things as property (controlled by the market) it is better to have everything controlled as property. Thus, the illusion continues, more control is always better. Furthermore, the illusion states, if you fight against more control, you are against control completely. Lessig pointed out that this is not the case. We have things owned in common (highways were a common example) and things owned privately. Balance must be achieved even in the physical world. Even more so in the digital world. More so because in the digital world resources have little to no possibility of being used up. Thus, we must consider them as separate from physical property. Ownership will not disappear in the digital world, however, it should not be given a priori; its benefits should be demonstrated by those who want to claim it as property.
The second issue was in response to the fact that many laws and regulations are being made in relation to the expected consequences of new technologies. However, these things limit the use of new technologies and stifle innovation in favor of existing (usually large) companies. The existing parties that are in favor of these regulations thus shift the burden of proving usefulness onto new technologies. Yet if a technology cannot play around in the real world, how is one to determine whether or not there is a use/market for it?
This book is thought provoking and well written. There were some things (mainly the proposed solutions to existing problems) that I felt would have some bugs in implementation, but that did not distract from the book. In fact, they rather prove the point. They were brainstorming, innovation. We cannot know if those methods are right without looking into them more deeply. Similarly, digital technology and intellectual property cannot be treated like physical property. There may be some analogies, but there are also profound differences.
March 15, 2008
"The experts didn't get it", the book starts by giving you the history of the internet from the ground up, always reminding you that freedom drives innovation because the few at the top, might not get it.
September 22, 2010
I didn't actually finish this book; I just cannot bring myself to finish it. What is it about the writing that makes it so infuriatingly slow-paced? It's just like The World is Flat.
October 14, 2017
After 15 years, the landscape of the Internets changed a lot and this book sometimes look outdated. But, it lays the basis for a reflection on what fostered innovation in this field, how intellectual property laws play a role and what changed when the Internets went commercial. This book is still worth reading and I would like to get a hand on an updated version, where the power of the gafa would be taken into account.
August 3, 2018
A small and petty mind exposing its plan of Taking Over the World. A larger version of Brain from Pinky and the Brain. Okay. Things are going to be wonderful in that sort of Total Control. I get that. How about if someone else, even more petty and complex ridden than Lessig takes over this beautiful institution? Another mystery.
July 2, 2019
A good number of theories and perspectives. That said, after the first 20%, the author iterated on very similar opinions again and again.
January 22, 2021
Got this at BookOff
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October 23, 2022Had to read for class and it has interesting way of looking at media and comms tech in layers but I’m too distracted by the fact Napster took up a chunk of this test
August 2, 2009
“But commons also produce something of value. They are a resource for decentralized innovation. They create the opportunity for individuals to draw upon resources without connections, permission, or access granted by others.”
Das mittlerweile zum Klassiker mutierte Werk des Kommunikationsgenies Lawrence Lessig war vor acht Jahren, 2001, bahnbrechend. “It deserves to change the way we think about the electronic frontier”, wird die Los Angeles Times auf dem Titelblatt zitiert. Tatsächlich darf man sich nach der Lektüre fragen, warum das Konzept der Commons, zu deutsch “Allmende”, noch nicht in den Köpfen der Masse angekommen ist.
Lessig erklärt dieses Konzept und überträgt es auf den digitalen Raum. Später sollte sich daraus das Projekt “Creative Commons” entwickeln. Auf diesen positiven Ansatz verweisen aber nur die letzten Seiten des Werkes; ansonsten geht es dem Rechtsprofessor eher darum, vor einem Verlust der Freiheiten des Internets zu warnen.
Auch wenn Lessig wie in seinem genialen Vorträgen großartige Beispiele wählt, um sein Anliegen zu verdeutlichen, wird das Werk in der zweiten Hälfte teilweise zu sehr auf diese konkreten Fälle bezogen und ist dann, im Nachhinein betrachtet, auf Irrwegen unterwegs.
Am schwersten wiegt aber, dass Lessig sein Buch leider, leider für Amerikaner geschrieben hat. Das ist nicht so schlimm, wenn er auf Besonderheiten des Rechtssystems, einzelne Gesetze wie das DMCA etwa, eingeht. Es wird aber unerträglich, wenn er auf jeder zweiten Seite betonen muss, dass sein Anliegen nichts mit Kommunismus zu tun hat. Überhaupt sind viele Ideen zu brilliant im durchaus komplexen System amerikanischer Politbefindlichkeiten verortet, um wirklich glänzend rüberzukommen. Zusammen mit den häufigen Wiederholungen macht dieser Balast “The Future of Ideas” zu einem Werk, bei dem man gerade an seinen besten Stellen überlegen muss, wie gut es sein könnte, wäre es für ein progressiveres Publikum (zu dem ich selbst mich zähle) geschrieben.
Das mittlerweile zum Klassiker mutierte Werk des Kommunikationsgenies Lawrence Lessig war vor acht Jahren, 2001, bahnbrechend. “It deserves to change the way we think about the electronic frontier”, wird die Los Angeles Times auf dem Titelblatt zitiert. Tatsächlich darf man sich nach der Lektüre fragen, warum das Konzept der Commons, zu deutsch “Allmende”, noch nicht in den Köpfen der Masse angekommen ist.
Lessig erklärt dieses Konzept und überträgt es auf den digitalen Raum. Später sollte sich daraus das Projekt “Creative Commons” entwickeln. Auf diesen positiven Ansatz verweisen aber nur die letzten Seiten des Werkes; ansonsten geht es dem Rechtsprofessor eher darum, vor einem Verlust der Freiheiten des Internets zu warnen.
Auch wenn Lessig wie in seinem genialen Vorträgen großartige Beispiele wählt, um sein Anliegen zu verdeutlichen, wird das Werk in der zweiten Hälfte teilweise zu sehr auf diese konkreten Fälle bezogen und ist dann, im Nachhinein betrachtet, auf Irrwegen unterwegs.
Am schwersten wiegt aber, dass Lessig sein Buch leider, leider für Amerikaner geschrieben hat. Das ist nicht so schlimm, wenn er auf Besonderheiten des Rechtssystems, einzelne Gesetze wie das DMCA etwa, eingeht. Es wird aber unerträglich, wenn er auf jeder zweiten Seite betonen muss, dass sein Anliegen nichts mit Kommunismus zu tun hat. Überhaupt sind viele Ideen zu brilliant im durchaus komplexen System amerikanischer Politbefindlichkeiten verortet, um wirklich glänzend rüberzukommen. Zusammen mit den häufigen Wiederholungen macht dieser Balast “The Future of Ideas” zu einem Werk, bei dem man gerade an seinen besten Stellen überlegen muss, wie gut es sein könnte, wäre es für ein progressiveres Publikum (zu dem ich selbst mich zähle) geschrieben.
February 22, 2017
Lucid and persuasive, Lessig gives history lessons intertwining commerce, morals, politics and law. We get to understand in lay terms how we got to be where we are in copyright and patent law and why it is important that we're able to build on the assets of others' ideas
January 5, 2013
Fascinating examination of what makes the internet tick, in terms of innovation, and what kinds of things could stop that innovation. He sets forth the idea that there are three layers in the internet for control: physical (that is, the wires and such that the signal travels on), code (the system that lets the network do its thing) and content (the stuff that goes over the wires). While he touches on the physical layers, his main focus is on the code and content layers, where the philosophy behind the creation of the internet has had the most impact. The internet, according to Lessig, is currently built on an architecture that, much like the highways, allows for a commons. Anyone can get access, and put new things on the network, without having to get permission. He argues that it should remain this way, and makes a compelling case that the current laws regarding Intellectual Property (IP) are far too strict, some because of recent law changes, some because of the increase in control that has come with the digitization of content. A good, balanced look at the issue, albeit a little behind, since it was published in 2001.
January 2, 2010
Interesting book, if a bit repetitive. The big fight over net neutrality happened after this book was published. While this book didn't precisely predict this issue, it certainly foreshadowed it and showed the progression of increasing levels of control over the internet. Still, there is some hope of Congress officially passing a net neutrality bill. I wish that there were some hope for copyright and patent reform, which is seriously broken. This book highlighted the problems with copyright and how the internet is making "perfect control" more attainable. I used to work as a software developer and had to avoid some ridiculous software patents, so I knew first-hand that the copyright/patent system was broken before. What I didn't realize was the extent, which is truly frightening. This book was a depressing read. It laid out many of the system's problems and then only gave overly optimistic solutions.
April 6, 2008
Our children will have no problem parsing this book, whatsoever. When I read this book, I would actually get angry at Lessig at being too moderate. After describing in such nuance the way things have been horribly messed up in copyright and spectrum laws, my reaction was "well, then burn the FCC to the ground, loot Disney World, and put Les Moonves' head on a stake". Lessig, however, usually provides a more moderate solution. Sometimes it looks like compromise, but in the end, the reader cannot help but conclude that this guy has just really thought it through. Let this guy write the Iraq withdrawal plan.
October 13, 2008
I think this is the book where Lessig truly became one of the most essential public intellectuals of our time. Reading it in 2008, years after its initial release, it has turned out to be stunningly prescient. He writes about the social, economic, and political ramifications of our misguided intellectual property and technology policy with clarity and wit here.
This is probably the most essential of Lessig's three books. Code 2.0 can be pedagogic at times and Free Culture is the work of a defeated, discouraged warrior. I still highly recommend both, but if you have to pick only one of Lessig's books, this is it.
This is probably the most essential of Lessig's three books. Code 2.0 can be pedagogic at times and Free Culture is the work of a defeated, discouraged warrior. I still highly recommend both, but if you have to pick only one of Lessig's books, this is it.
March 15, 2008
Still relevant six-seven years on, the book is highly informative and well-constructed. I just had a hard time motivating myself to finish, I don't know if that's because the subject can at times be dry, that the book has been kind of upstaged by Lessig's later efforts, or just my own failings with slightly academic texts. But for those interested in technology, The Future of Ideas is definitely worth checking out for its broad sentiments about the nature of control and innovation.
October 8, 2014
Lessig explores the benefits that the open architecture of the Internet has brought to innovation and creativity. He then turns to the reaction against this architecture by the entrenched stakeholders of the pre-Internet era, such as the music and film industries. His conclusion is pessimistic -- the old is fighting successfully to protect itself against the new and stifling innovation in the process.
November 19, 2007
Lucid and persuasive, Lessig gives history lessons intertwining commerce, morals, politics and law. We get to understand in lay terms how we got to be where we are in copyright and patent law and why it is important that we're able to build on the assets of others' ideas. Important reading for intellectual property owners and purveyors.
Regards,
Keith
Regards,
Keith
June 17, 2009
This is probably the most wide-ranging of Lessig's three books that I've read (I'm going backwards, I suppose), which means it's also the least successful (in part because it's the oldest). Still, he as always makes good points. I think Free Culture is probably the best of his books that I've read (still have to get to Code 2.0).
September 9, 2016
I tried. This is a book that's truly written by a lawyer - many hundreds of pages of analogies and examples to prove his point, presented in a very bland way. I read the quarter of the way, but Larry's writing could not hold my attention. He takes a long time to get to this point. His ideas are big and important, just not written in a way that appealing to a lot of people.
December 5, 2008
Copyright and control issues in realms of data networking and broadcasting are compared in detail. The emphasis is on being mindful of software and legal developments that will affect what a U.S. citizen can access in the public domain.
May 20, 2016
Well presented and thorough, the author has presented a compelling argument for limiting copyright and patents. We've forgotten the original reason (to encourage innovation) and shifted to indefinitely protecting existing ideas. It's not a terribly exciting read, but it was interesting.
October 21, 2007
yes, i was once a member of the Lawrence Lessig cult. (still respect his ideas, just not as zealous. remember when copyright was a top concern? ah the good old days.)
Currently reading
December 12, 2007Adage be damned. The hardcover edition of this book may have the best cover I've ever seen. Now, I just need to finish reading it.
January 8, 2008
I still heart Lawrence Lessig.
March 5, 2010
This is a very informative and interesting take on the history and future of ideas on the internet. Not a light read, but then it's not a light subject.
March 29, 2008
Lessig is my hero.
March 30, 2008
this book crystallized my thinking about the significance of Open Source and the power of collaborative development of ideas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews