We owe the next generation so many things, one them being a society where following the law is natural and easy, where trust in our Democracy is reinforced in the way we engage in creative expression. Do yourself a favor and watch this talk by Lessig. In it he makes the case for why you and I should take a leadership role in building a society where the new literacy of YouTube remixes is obviously legal and unencumbered by lawyers. Lessig starts talking around 6:30.

Don’t be complacent; don’t be satisfied. The current system of copyright law is badly broken if it prevents professors from engaging their students using the same modes of creative expression, the media that students use natively. It’s not that professors are old fogies who don’t know what youtube is. The problem is that the professors rightly perceive the legal risks associated with using digital works, which by their very nature entails making copies of the works. If the current remix/mashup/RW culture is always or even mostly “piracy” in the eyes of the law, then all those wishing to take part in the digital participatory cultures are pirates. “Piracy” by a student can be chalked up to youthful naïveté, and punishment is, in most cases, brief revocation of network privileges or some honor court process–something or some process that in the long term only damages the student’s trust in the system. For a professor a piracy incident could do significantly more short-term damage.

We need to fix it. If not us, then who? It starts by seeing the network as the classroom. Stop trying to integrate wikis into classrooms and start seeing that youtube and wikipedia are classrooms where you can step in and take part. Don’t write a letter to your congressman. Make an elevator pitch to your congressman and put it on youtube. Recruit 12 good friends to send a personal note to your congressman asking him to watch the video. Get it?

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Horrible videography, but very good brief explanation of why the Novell & MS deal is so bad:

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Here’s an awesome investigative reporting piece that you should take a few minutes to listen to (requires flash). You can also download the piece (mp3).

It’s about a small plane crash in Mexico, Guantanamo Bay, the CIA, over 3 metric tons of cocaine, and why the FAA makes this all possible.

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Ouch.

I suggest jumping to the last minute. It gets pretty good. Also good is an exchange at about 2:45 in.

Worth watching.

Mentions Yochai Benkler in passing. Praise Paul Jones for assigning Wealth of Networks.