On Property and Commons
A quote I came across today from an old Lessig speech:
“The ideal that seemed so central to killing the closed society of yesterday—property—that ideal is now closing the open society of today. The same tool of freedom of yesterday is becoming a tool of control today. Not the same control, or the same control to as evil an end. But, nonetheless, a control on creativity and innovation; a shifting of that control from individuals to corporations; from anyone to the few.”
Since I didn’t include context here, I should point out that Lessig is not arguing for the abolition of either real or “intellectual” property. He is arguing for the importance of a commons to creativity and innovation, as well as the dangers of a permission society where content controllers exert perfect control over uses of content.