This article, published April 22, 2013 on TheAtlantic.com, was written by Orin Kerr and Lawrence Lessig. Their self described interest in the matter is as follows: “One of us is a Republican former prosecutor, the other a progressive activist. But we are united on this issue, because all of modern life is mediated by computers.” Having recently read a somewhat-outdated work by Lessig, it was interesting to see a contemporary publication of his that carries through the same rhetoric and ideas manifested in “Free Culture.” The theme of this article is the divide between what our current federal laws regarding intellectual property are and what they should be, using Kerr and Lessig’s definition of “should.” They argue that the current laws are ambiguous to the point that people can be prosecuted essentially at the whims of the judge and district attorney with little regard to pragmatism or precedent. The synthesis is that information, content, and culture should be free, and that the federal government should be supporting that, not hindering it.
#congress #laws #internet #lessig
