''The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World'' (2001) is a book by

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...

, at the time of writing a professor of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

, who is well known as a critic of the extension of the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

term in US. It is a continuation of his previous book '' Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace'', which is about how computer programs can restrict freedom of ideas in cyberspace. While copyright helps artists get rewarded for their work, Lessig warns that a copyright regime that is too strict and grants copyright for too long a period of time (e.g. the current US legal climate) can destroy innovation, as the future always builds on the past. Lessig also discusses recent movements by corporate interests to promote longer and tighter protection of

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

in three layers: the code layer, the content layer, and the physical layer. The code layer is that which is controlled by computer programs. One instance is Internet censorship in mainland China by sorting out geographical

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

es. The content layer is notoriously illustrated by Napster, a

peer-to-peer file sharing Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program th ...

service. Lessig criticizes the reaction of music companies and Hollywood. The physical layer is the one that actually conveys information from one point to another, and can be either wired or wireless. He discusses particularly the regulation of the

radio spectrum The radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies from 0 Hz to 3,000 GHz (3 THz). Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are widely used in modern technology, particula ...

in the United States. In the end, he stresses the importance of existing works entering the public domain in a reasonably short period of time, as the Founding Fathers intended. On 15 January 2008, Lessig announced on his blog that his publishers agreed to license the book under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license, and the book in PDF format can be downloaded freely.Lessig, Lawrence
The Future of Ideas is now Free
Last accessed on January 16, 2008.

Editions

* US 1st hardcover edition (

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

): * US paperback (Vintage books):
On-line version
(PDF, free, under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial licence)

References

External links

Author Lawrence Lessig's homepageBook homepage
*Direct book download links in e-book formats
epubmobi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Future Of Ideas, The 2001 non-fiction books Books about the Internet Works about intellectual property law Books by Lawrence Lessig Law books Creative Commons-licensed books