[LINK] Lessig on the future of the Internet

[Roger Clarke]

Roger:
>>  >>  The Internet Under Siege
>>  >>   Lawrence Lessig
>>  >>   Foreign Policy Magazine, Nov/Dec 2001
>>  >>  http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_novdec_2001/lessig.html
>>
>>  Lessig's improving:  he's only *a few months* behind me now  (:-)}
...

"geert lovink" <geert@desk.nl>:
>i liked your comments on 'code' a lot. i think its a silly term too. i
>like lessig's use of the digital commons. it makes sense but a lot of the
>issues around this term remain unresolved, the main one being the difference
>(or not) between the state (federal level or local) and the 'public'. in the
>past the state was supposed to take care of the public sphere. that's no
>longer the case so its really the question who is the actual agent when you
>talk about the digital commons. lessig is not addressing this urgent issue.
>it can't be 'cicvil society' in my opinion, that much too unspecific.

I'm not convinced that the state should ever be seen as a 
*substitute* for people!

But I agree with Geert's comment that Lessig's revival of the 
'digital commons' notion is useful.  (It actually goes back quite a 
long time, but he's picked it up and is making good use of it).

I like to think in communitarian terms.  The village-dwellers grazed 
the commons, so maybe the global-villagers graze the digital commons.

Hardin, Garrett (1968) "Tragedy of the commons" Science 162: 
1243-1248, at http://dieoff.org/page95.htm

Note that the term 'digital commons' is widely used in librarianship, 
especially within the university sector.  I couldn't quickly locate 
the origins of that usage.

Lessig, L. (1999) Keynote Address, The Berkman Center's "Building a 
Digital Commons", May 20, 1999, at 
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/content/works/lessigkeynote.

Stalder F. (2000) Sharing and hoarding: Are the digital commons 
tragic? Published in Telepolis, 26.08.2000, at 
http://felix.openflows.org/html/commons_gnutella.html

Daniel McFadden (2001), The Tragedy Of The Commons, Forbes ASAP, 
09.10.01, at http://www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0910/061_print.html

-- 
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