Lessig Fans: Have Mercy!!
While Lessig largely presents a carefully constructed, creative and thus unusually interesting response to the war on piracy, it’s not completely flawless.
Beginning his argument identifying “Constraining Creators” as one of the consequences of continuing this war is the following prediction: “In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share content (2004, p. 184).”
Stemming from this assumption, he makes the rather utopian contention that “The technology of digital “capturing and sharing” promises a world of extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly shared. And as that creativity is applied to democracy, it will enable a broad range of citizens to use technology to express and criticise and contribute to the culture all around (2004, p. 184).”
Now a number of holes can be picked here. Although there is no doubt that in the next ten years an explosion of digital technologies will occur in the West, across the digital divide in the East and its third world countries, the difference a decade will make is far less certain. So whether “almost anyone” will be able to capture and share content with all the benefits of digital fidelity and power is arguable at best.
The promise of “a world of extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly shared” will remain just that, irrespective of piracy laws, unless the emphasis is placed on bridging this digital divide rather than the expanding capabilities that those on the other side are missing out on.
Regarding Lessig’s claim that when this creativity is applied to democracy, “a broad range of citizens” via digital technology will be able to engage in “the culture all around”, on the flip side of that digital divide not all countries are democratic and even with the resources many would hesitate publishing “an essay about the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to hate (2004, p. 184).” Again the solution here does not lie in piracy laws but in targeting oppressive governments such as those leading Zimbabwe and North Korea.
Obviously these predictions and assumptions serve to strengthen Lessig’s push for a change in piracy laws. However, their lofty and perhaps deceptive nature should not be overlooked. Piracy laws may constrain digital creators in the West; across the digital divide the opportunity to become one is yet to exist.
I know there are a lot of Lessig fans out there. Feel free to disagree…….
Shan
Beginning his argument identifying “Constraining Creators” as one of the consequences of continuing this war is the following prediction: “In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share content (2004, p. 184).”
Stemming from this assumption, he makes the rather utopian contention that “The technology of digital “capturing and sharing” promises a world of extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly shared. And as that creativity is applied to democracy, it will enable a broad range of citizens to use technology to express and criticise and contribute to the culture all around (2004, p. 184).”
Now a number of holes can be picked here. Although there is no doubt that in the next ten years an explosion of digital technologies will occur in the West, across the digital divide in the East and its third world countries, the difference a decade will make is far less certain. So whether “almost anyone” will be able to capture and share content with all the benefits of digital fidelity and power is arguable at best.
The promise of “a world of extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly shared” will remain just that, irrespective of piracy laws, unless the emphasis is placed on bridging this digital divide rather than the expanding capabilities that those on the other side are missing out on.
Regarding Lessig’s claim that when this creativity is applied to democracy, “a broad range of citizens” via digital technology will be able to engage in “the culture all around”, on the flip side of that digital divide not all countries are democratic and even with the resources many would hesitate publishing “an essay about the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to hate (2004, p. 184).” Again the solution here does not lie in piracy laws but in targeting oppressive governments such as those leading Zimbabwe and North Korea.
Obviously these predictions and assumptions serve to strengthen Lessig’s push for a change in piracy laws. However, their lofty and perhaps deceptive nature should not be overlooked. Piracy laws may constrain digital creators in the West; across the digital divide the opportunity to become one is yet to exist.
I know there are a lot of Lessig fans out there. Feel free to disagree…….
Shan
posted by Anonymous at 6:06 pm
2 Comments:
good points dude, i also think there is an overstatement in his point of a global decline in creativity.
I understand that people may create things online using other peoples creations although I don't think that this form of creativity is the way forward. I want to see original concepts in art and media art that may 'borrow' ideas used before (like the saying "there is no such think as an original idea") but creating something all together unique.
Using someone else's film or logo or brand may be a way of doing this but forget about copyright, i see it and it just screams plagerism. I call it ironic and satiric, but is that all that our 'creativity' is? I hope it's more than that...
Shan - you make a good point here. At the least, this is a significant blind spot in Lessig's work if not a fatal flaw. I think there's another blindspot, too (though I am one of your Lessig 'fans'). This blind spot is a tendency to see the world through a very Western (American?) lens - as if 'culture' is something that is created only by individuals, and the only question is how we design and distribute the 'rights' of individual authors and consumers. But there are other perspectives which see culture in less individualistic and more collective terms. Particularly salient, I think, is the question of how indigenous and/or 'threatened' cultures are represented in the digital age. There has been controversy, for example, over the way that Maori culture is used online: from non-Maori people pasting Maori icons onto their homepages for decoration and effect (with little regard for their meaning); through to online publication of sensitive genealogical information that, for some, should not be in the global public domain. What these examples raise is the question of how cultural groups control their visibility and representation in the digital world. Lessig's ideas about intellectual property, and his celebration of a free 'remix' culture are really based on rethinking individual property rights and have little or nothing to say about how culture relates to questions of group identity and representation. We need to think along different lines to address these kinds of questions. Crikey, that comment turned into a mini-essay: sorry.
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