This book is a lot of fun to read - it gives a lot of interesting real life examples! In the introduction, Lessig discusses some questionable decisions regarding lawsuits and ownership/copyright infringement. He's saying how far is too far? Is it really copyright infringement to post a home video of an 18 month old dancing to Prince? I mean, I get that Prince worked hard on his music, but the content is about the dance - for the pleasure of friends and family - not about copying Prince's work. Also, Lessig makes the point that the current copyright laws are stifling creativity. He gave the example of Girl Talk. I know Doc Adam isn't a huge fan of his, but it can't be denied that there is creativity behind what he's doing. Technically, he's infringing upon SO MANY artists, but if he can be prosecuted by all of those artists, we're denying someone's right to express themselves. So I guess, it seems to me that Lessig is presenting us with this notion that copyright laws are outdated, and need to be changed so as to complement our ever-changing culture.
RW (Read/Write) culture is the idea of a culture not only reading and digesting culture, but also creating it. They're taking the information they read and writing it into something different - remixing it. It's the idea of recycling culture over and over creating an ever evolving culture. RO (Read/Only) culture is the idea about being less proactive in culture. Instead of creating, this culture would would have fewer amateur creators - leaving it up to the professionals only. So basically, RW is a participatory culture and RO is not.
This all relates back to Lessig's argument because RW culture would encourage people to create something - anything - regardless of whether something is copyrighted or not. It's an environment that promotes creativity, which is what it seems Lessig is after. Lessig says, "I then want to spotlight the damage we're not thinking enough about - the harm to a generation from rendering criminal what comes naturally to them" (18). The RW culture would be the solution to this idea, and RO is the path we are on now.
Lessig uses Sousa because Sousa kind of began the fight against copying music a long time ago. Sousa's fear was that music would become something generated by a group of "elites" rather than having amateurs and professionals. "Sousa feared, fewer and fewer would have the access to instruments, or the capacity to create or add to the culture around them; more and more would simply consume what had been created elsewhere" (25). The irony is that just the opposite happened. EVERYONE has access to music, and can edit it, and can create something new - even if it's from something old. So, Sousa's argument is interesting because he predicted we were headed for an RO culture because of the advancements in technology, but in fact we're headed for an RO because of what he believed to be proper copyright laws. Additionally, those so called "infernal machines" he spoke of are actually leading us towards an RW culture.
p.s. GO COUGS! :)
Great post Dani. I'm glad you're enjoying this book--it's a pretty interesting read. Your discussion of Sousa here is well done, and you're read, the infernal machines are actually spearheading a RW culture. I wonder where Sousa would stand were he around today? Thanks.
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