Open Culture » Law

Lawrence Lessig Speech Streamed Live Today

Dan Colman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:42:23 +0000

A quick heads up…

Flumotion and the Open Video Alliance will be streaming a live event on Thursday, February 25^thfeaturing Lawrence Lessig, the foundational voice of the free culture movement. The 45-minute speech will be delivered live from Harvard Law School via Flumotion’s Streaming Platform, and will explore the relationship between copyright, fair use, politics and online video. The speech takes place at 6:00 PM local time (23:00 GMT) and [can be watched live here.]

Get more details from Flumotion here.

PS On a related note, TEDxNYED will stream talks live on March 6th. Speakers will include Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, Jeff Jarvis, Michael Wesch and others. Looks like a great event. Get more details here.

Lawrence Lessig Speech Streamed Live Today is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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PIRACY: A Free eBook (Today Only)

Dan Colman — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:04:14 +0000

A quick fyi on a free eBook from the University of Chicago. (It’s an offer that seems well timed, given this weekend’s copyright debate on OC.) Here are the details from UC:

Offered as a free e-book for one day only, February 1: Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. “[Adrian Johns] traces the tensions between authorized and unauthorized producers and distributors of books, music, and other intellectual property in British and American culture from the 17th century to the present. . . . The shifting theoretical arguments about copyright and authorial property are presented in a cogent and accessible manner. Johns’s research stands as an important reminder that today’s intellectual property crises are not unprecedented, and offers a survey of potential approaches to a solution.”

For more free eBooks, please visit our collection of Free eBooks.

PIRACY: A Free eBook (Today Only) is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Lessig on Political Corruption in America

Dan Colman — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:59:36 +0000

Public confidence in the U.S. House and Senate is at an all-time low, and, after last week’s Supreme Court decision, it’s bound to sink even lower. On January 19th (the day before the decision), Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig returned to Stanford and highlighted the degree to which “institutional corruption” — in the form of lobbyists and corporate influence — pervades Congress, dictates legislation, and brings large sums of money to campaigns and, yes, even representatives’ personal bank accounts. (Roughly 50% of U.S. Senators become lobbyists, working for industries they once assisted politically, and earn substantial incomes.) The talk, accompanied by a rapid fire PowerPoint presentation, runs a solid hour and details various instances in which lobbyists have shaped unfathomably bad legislation. Happily, the talk also ends with Lessig outlining possible solutions. Policy changes can offer some answers. But, a lot of it comes down to this: getting the passive privileged to rein in a corrupted elite.

Note: To see Lessig’s immediate response to the SCOTUS decision, look here.

Lessig on Political Corruption in America is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Google Puts Supreme Court Opinions Online

Dan Colman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:06:19 +0000

A quick fyi: Starting today, you can find online legal opinions from the Supreme Court, as well as federal and state courts, thanks to Google Scholar. When you visit Google Scholar, click on the ”Legal opinions and journals” radio button, and then begin your query. If you type ”separate but equal,” Scholar with present you with famous Supreme Court Cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. You get the gist. You can read more about this online legal database over at Google’s blog.

UPDATE/NOTE FROM READER: “This has already been done for the US Supreme Court, and very well, at oyez.org. Oyez is easy to use, has lots of additional content, including summaries and audio of oral arguments, and is ad-free and Creative Commons licensed for its original content. Plus, you can search by court term, Justice, and the name of the legal counsel.” An alternative source to look at…

Google Puts Supreme Court Opinions Online is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Lawrence Lessig Speaks Once Again About Copyright and Creativity

Dan Colman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:18:53 +0000

Last year, Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford, gave what was supposed to be his last talk on the modern copyright regime that once benefited creativity but now stifles it and brings big bucks to corporations. But, at EDUCAUSE last week, he came back as the keynote speaker and returned to these still-burning issues once again. Lessig has posted his artfully presented talk online, and you can now watch it above.

PS Once you start the video, it will take a little while for you to see anything.

Lawrence Lessig Speaks Once Again About Copyright and Creativity is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Dominick Dunne Looks at the Dark Side

Dan Colman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:16:39 +0000

Crime writer Dominick Dunne passed yesterday today at 83, his death overshadowed by that of Ted Kennedy. Above, we feature Dunne remembering his rather unpleasant relationship with Frank Sinatra. It’s a perverse story, though told in a somewhat humorous way.

Initially, I considered featuring another video, but it’s entirely too sad, especially for any parents among us. Back in 1982, Dunne’s daughter, an actress, was strangled to death by her boyfriend. And, in this clip, Dunne reflects on his relationship with his daughter. A heartbreaking bit.

As a side note, Dunne kept a diary during the trial of his daughter’s murderer. The account was eventually published in Vanity Fair, and you can find it here, along with many other major pieces that Dunne wrote for VF. Amazingly, the murderer was convicted and served less than 4 years. Meanwhile, millions who have peddled small amounts of drugs are doing considerably more time across the US.

Dominick Dunne Looks at the Dark Side is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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The Obama “Hope” Poster & The New Copyright Controversy

Dan Colman — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:29:05 +0000

By now, everyone knows the famous Obama “Hope” poster produced by Shepard Fairey. Recently, Fairey has acknowledged that the poster was originally inspired by a photograph belonging to the AP Press, and now the AP is claiming that Fairey has infringed on its copyright and wants “payment for the use of the photo and a portion of any money he makes from it.” (see article in the New York Times). In response, Fairey has filed a preemptive lawsuit, claiming that he used the AP photo as a mere starting point and then transformed it into a “stunning, abstracted and idealized visual image that created powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message.” If you put the two images side by side (see here), it’s pretty instantly clear that Fairey took an admittedly well done news photo and did something quite transformative with it, which makes things fair game. That’s obvious to almost anyone (including hopefully judges), and it’s a shame to see the AP, which lives by its First Amendment rights, looking to use the copyright clause to limit freedom of expression. Bad move guys.

As a quick side note, Fairey is being represented in court by The Fair Use Project at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society (to which I have zero connection.)

The Obama “Hope” Poster & The New Copyright Controversy is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Download New Book From the Free Culture Movement

Dan Colman — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:22:01 +0000

A quick heads up…

James Boyle, a law professor at Duke University, has just put out a new book called The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind, and it basically tells citizens what they need to know about intellectual property law to take meaningful part in our emerging information society. The book clearly complements a lot of the work done by Lawrence Lessig. You can snap up a copy in three different formats (Free PDF copy, Free HTML copy, Buy on Amazon) and also find other free, downloadable books at Creative Commons.

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Download New Book From the Free Culture Movement is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Ninth Circuit Judge on The Dating Game Way Back When

Dan Colman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:04:14 +0000

The name Alex Kozinski probably won’t mean much to many of you. But if you’re a lawyer, or a Supreme Court watcher, you’ll know that he’s the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (a really prestigious position). Rather recently, he’s been associated with a highly visible pornography scandal related to one of his cases, and now this. A video documenting his appearance long ago on The Dating Game, a wonderful piece of Americana. And the best part is that he beat Squiggy from the other slice of Americana, Laverne & Shirley. Oh, the endless wealth of YouTube:

Ninth Circuit Judge on The Dating Game Way Back When is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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Lawrence Lessig’s Last Speech on Free Culture (Watch it)

Dan Colman — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:59:52 +0000

Below we have posted the last lecture that Lawrence Lessig will ever present on Free Culture. It’s an area where he has spent the past decade working, and this talk offers an excellent introduction to Lessig’s thought and work on this issue. Given at Stanford on January 31, the presentation is one that Steve Jobs could appreciate. Very well done. So give it a watch below (or here). Also, if you’d like to get free digital copies of Lessig’s major writings on Free Culture, look here.

As for what Lessig plans to do next. He has talked about combating corruption in Washington (something he talks about here). That’s part of the plan, but he may do it by running for Congress. Read this article in the Wall Street Journal and check out the new site: Lessig08.com

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Lawrence Lessig’s Last Speech on Free Culture (Watch it) is a post from: Open Culture. Visit us at www.openculture.com

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