I’ve just ordered a nice print edition of Larry Lessig’s Free Culture – per one reviewer (and my snatches of it confirm this) – a “focused, measured argument of the issues around preserving and extending digital creativity”. Many feel it’s cool to cite his blog in their blogrolls. I don’t find that compelling reading; on the other hand, his book prose flows well and they are provocative, essential reading for anyone concerned with digital information.

The gist of his argument in Free Culture is that digital technologies have extended the reach of copyright law and are regulating activities that the original legislators never dreamed of restricting. “In a digital age, copying is as natural as breathing.” Every web page view is technically a copy, regulated by copyright law, a situation which was unintended and is totally inefficient. He proposes that distribution for commercial purposes rather than simply the act of copying is the appropriate thing to “tax” with copyright legislation.