Free Culture

Reshelved Lessig's Free Culture today.

It was much more engaging than I was expecting. As someone going in knowing very little about the ways and mores of copyright law -- the book reeled me in. Lessig leads you slowly into the water -- allows you to splash around a bit in the history of copyright -- wades with you up to the modern era while always referring back to the history so that you always have it in your swimming trunks -- and presents several sound arguments along the way -- all building up to the Supreme Court case Eldred v. Ashcroft. At that point -- you're swimming in some pretty deep waters.

What one would expect to be a droll lesson in legality is tinctured with the bright, impassioned tales of an attempt to guide a corralled spirit into greener pastures. To open the doors of creativity. To free culture. Lessig's writing guides you along so subtly through the case history that in reading you don't realize the sympathies you've developed until the verdict is read and you realize what we've lost. You empathize when he speaks of his realization, devastation and circles of recalculation following the defeat.

When I reached the halfway point earlier this week I realized I would need to reorganize my aggregator feeds. I've been stifling Lessig's blog by keeping him contained in my political folder -- which has seen its popularity plummet since the election. The movement towards an improvement in copyright law is ongoing -- and after this reading -- has a reinvested follower.

The book, in its presentation of reforming current legislation, touches several times on instances that in one way or another seep into the bigger picture. Everything, to risk melodramatics, is in some manner or another attached to everything else.

(I've lost my initial point here -- as I just returned from the dentist's office with a mouthful of novocaine.)

Of particular interest to me was the point that in securing copyrights, publishers of trade journals or specialized writings are able to suspend the distribution of periodicals to libraries in favor of establishing databases that require a subscription to view. Much too expensive for the everyday joe to afford -- the wealth of knowledge that used to be available to all is now relegated to those fortunate enough to be able to afford it, or belong to an institution that can proxy it. A more dramatic picture was painted of those movies that have been under copyright since the late 1920's -- but have no commercial worth - so instead of being digitally preserved by archivists -- the film is slowly disintegrating into dust.

The reading touched upon several matters that I am sure I'll be delving into in the next two years as I attempt to become a custodian of culture. It opened my eyes just a little wider to the importance of the position and the merits of librarianship. Libraries are a foundation of true democracy. They are supposed to level the playing field with open and free access to information for all. (and cue a deep swelling of patriotic music, slowly fading out the lights)

Recommended: Free Culture.