5 comments

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  Mike Linksvayer

  2 years ago

  Perfect right up to the word 'Ronald' who was for limited government and free markets in just the way the copyright cartel is -- superficial rhetoric only.
  
  I think the main opportunity is not for left-leaning copyright reformers to make inroads with free marketeers but for some of the latter to be entrepreneurs, loosely speaking, in opening up the ripe field of IP critique and reform from a free-market perspective.
  
  In other words, clone yourself. :)
• 

  eee_eff

  2 years ago

  Advocates of sensible copyright laws desperately need to find ways to talk about their agenda that Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians find more appealing.
  

  
  Bullshit. Overturning the copyright cartel is one of the things that is going to make the revolution that much more fun!
  
  
• 

  Seth Finkelstein

  2 years ago

  Tim, it's much easier said that done. My own experiences in that direction have been very unpleasant. Lessig is regularly distorted, to the point that his actual very moderate position sometimes seems irrelevant to the ideological rant that (some) Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians want to write.
  
  It's just hard to form alliances across ideological lines. Political crossover is a pundit's dream in proposing, and an activist's nightmare in execution, when crossover in theory becomes crossfire in practice.
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  Noel Le

  2 years ago

  Lessig has toned down in recent years, becoming more moderate and considered in his views. Its good to see this of someone as capable of reaching diverse audiences as he.
  
  Didn't much of the current IP regime arise under Clinton?
• 

  Luis Villa

  2 years ago

  Didn't much of the current IP regime arise under Clinton?
  
  The Bono Act (extending copyright) and DMCA passed under Clinton, but by a Republican Senate and House. Inasmuch as this is a political problem, neither party is doing the right thing. But it has mostly been a judicial/PTO problem, not executive-level. Strongly recommend reading the excellent Digital Copyright for a good history of the problem in the copyright space, and Innovation and its Discontents for a similar background on the patent side.