Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr, has joined the Creative Commons board. News at CC. ]]> creative commons Lessig 2008-08-26T05:19:58+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/a_plea_to_the_press_please_jus.html The Democrats have a HD broadcast of their convention, but only on some platforms, through a Microsoft product. Those fortunate enough to own the most modern technology (and (contrary to the norm) fortunate enough to have fast broadband) can get full convention coverage. The rest of America (to the extent they care, and the point may be related) are stuck with broadcasters coverage. From NPR to the networks, "coverage" means some ridiculous unprepared interview with a party has-been, while a prepared speech by someone currently significant is being given in the background. (e.g., Jim Leach, former GOP Congressman from Iowa, speaking in the background as NPR interviews Walter Mondale. Leach's speech was fantastic. Mondale's, well, you get the point.) Please, networks, and especially, NPR, can you please just cover the convention -- both the Democratic and Republican. Obviously, it is party propaganda. But it is also American politics. It is ridiculous that the only people who actually get to see what each party believes it should say are those who are at the Convention, or those with powerful computers and fast technology. politics Lessig 2008-08-26T03:15:10+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/more_on_broadband_numbers.html As I said about my McCain on Technology video, the opening graph is not well defined. Others said the same thing. Neither are the data provided. If I had all the time in the world, I would correct both in the video. I don't. So here's a clarification: I am using a hybrid of the ITU data (2000-2007) and OECD data (1997-1999) in my analysis, but only the latter in the chart. You can see a spreadsheet with both here. The numbers (#5, #22) refer to the U.S. ranking for broadband penetration over that period. OECD doesn't have exactly the same analysis, but because there are relatively few countries with broadband penetration of any significance, it is easy to calculate that broadband penetration for the US goes from #2 to #22 from 1997 through 2007. The Communication Workers of America have a new site and study to bolster the embarrassing state of US broadband quality. You can download their 50 state survey here. Far as I can tell, the simplest explanation for broadband speed is this: How close are you to DC regulators. The closer you are, the better your broadband. Not a perfect predictor, but pretty good. ]]> NetNeutrality Lessig 2008-08-25T23:30:36+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/fcc_on_comcast_bravo.html Free Press (and others) alleged that Comcast was blocking the BitTorrent application. We've known for sometime the result in this case (because of the weird practice of the FCC to release the results of an order without necessarily releasing the order). But at the crack of dawn (California time) today, the Commission released its 34 page order. It is fantastically well done. So much so that I felt compelled (in that weird lawyer like way) to blather my own 5 pages of thanks in a letter to the Commission that will be mailed today. ]]> good code Lessig 2008-08-20T17:54:45+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/free_the_airwaves_whitespace_c.html My contribution to the "Free the Airwaves" campaign, a push to free spectrum "whitespaces." ]]> good code Lessig 2008-08-20T00:12:08+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/me_on_mccain_on_technology.html A reaction to McCain's recently announced technology policy. (Stupidly unclear in the video: the initial graph is U.S.'s global ranking in broadband penetration -- so starting high (#5) in 2000, and declining to #22 by 2008. The rankings are based on OECD data.) There's also a version at YouTube (but please watch in "high quality"). (I resisted the cheap shot "[sic]" at "and free to chose among broadband service providers." Will someone please get them to fix this?) [Update: Here's a slightly edited transcript of the video (which steals Michael McDaniel's brilliant title)]]> bad code Lessig 2008-08-19T17:45:36+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/and_another_big_win_today_for.html here. ]]> free culture Lessig 2008-08-13T19:49:01+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/huge_and_important_news_free_l.html upheld a free (ok, they call them "open source") copyright license, explicitly pointing to the work of Creative Commons and others. (The specific license at issue was the Artistic License.) This is a very important victory, and I am very very happy that the Stanford Center for Internet and Society played a key role in securing it. Congratulations especially to Chris Ridder and Anthony Falzone at the Center. In non-technical terms, the Court has held that free licenses such as the CC licenses set conditions (rather than covenants) on the use of copyrighted work. When you violate the condition, the license disappears, meaning you're simply a copyright infringer. This is the theory of the GPL and all CC licenses. Put precisely, whether or not they are also contracts, they are copyright licenses which expire if you fail to abide by the terms of the license. Important clarity and certainty by a critically important US Court. ]]> creative commons Lessig 2008-08-13T17:28:48+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/early_creative_commons_history.html Here's a talk I gave at the iCommons Summit in Sapporo Japan on July 30, 2008. Nothing new to readers here, but reframed a bit for the context. ]]> creative commons Lessig 2008-08-11T16:43:32+00:00 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/change_congress_preso_beta_to.html link for information. ]]> ChangeCongress Lessig 2008-08-11T16:30:46+00:00