Lawrence Lessig

The real harm of term extension comes not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are not…

— Lawrence Lessig

We have a massive system to regulate creativity. A massive system of lawyers regulating creativity as copyright law has expanded in unrecognizable…

— Lawrence Lessig

There is still the illusion that if we could declare corporations are not people or that money is not speech, all would…

— Lawrence Lessig

When you think about a presidential candidate spending all of his or her time talking to that tiny, tiny fraction of us…

— Lawrence Lessig

Under the principle of equality, we should get as close to respecting equal votes of every citizen as we can, given our…

— Lawrence Lessig

You and I both know that as long as our representatives are held hostage to their funders - and their funders are…

— Lawrence Lessig

Now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to know what is protected and what is not protected…

— Lawrence Lessig

So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in culture that we don't even question when the control of that property…

— Lawrence Lessig

“[The Internet] affects democracy... As more and more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will change the…

— Lawrence Lessig

While control is needed, and perfectly warranted, our bias should be clear up front: Monopolies are not justified by theory; they should…

— Lawrence Lessig

“So, ignorant we are. But we're not stupid. Indeed...remaining ignorant about politics and our government is a perfectly rational response to the…

— Lawrence Lessig

The Electoral College is a project that calls on their judgment. If we don't like it, we can talk about how to…

— Lawrence Lessig

“But as well as copy-shop piracy, there is another kind of "taking" that is more directly related to the Internet. That taking,…

— Lawrence Lessig

Copyright law has got to give up its obsession with 'the copy.' The law should not regulate 'copies' or 'modern reproductions' on…

— Lawrence Lessig

The crystal ball has a question mark in its center. There are some fundamental choices to be made. We will either choose…

— Lawrence Lessig

But it is as silly to think about peer-to-peer as applying just to music as it would have been to think about…

— Lawrence Lessig

It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you…

— Lawrence Lessig

A world where Congressmen spend 30 to 70 percent of their time raising money from a tiny, tiny fraction of the 1%…

— Lawrence Lessig

My work about corruption is to get people to see it less as a moral issue (right/wrong) and more as an economic…

— Lawrence Lessig

The current term of protection for software is the life of an author plus 70 years, or, if it's work-for-hire, a total…

— Lawrence Lessig

Change the way we fund campaigns. Until we do, Wall Street will always be able to blackmail the Dems and GOP to…

— Lawrence Lessig

We established a regime that left creativity unregulated. Now it was unregulated because copyright law only covered "printing." Copyright law did not…

— Lawrence Lessig

For however much the state may gain by not having to fund roads on its own, society would lose in aggregate if…

— Lawrence Lessig

As I've indicated, most books go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and film. Commercial culture…

— Lawrence Lessig

Permission from the government is an expensive commodity. New ideas rarely have this kind of support. Old ideas often have deep legislative…

— Lawrence Lessig

I think the archaic idea is actually winner take all, because the principle of "one person, one vote" is a principle that…

— Lawrence Lessig

Companies will often use the legal system to scare people away from attacking them. But we all should be free to make…

— Lawrence Lessig

I spend as little time with lawmakers as possible. Many are great. And more than you expect want real change. But they're…

— Lawrence Lessig

Creativity and innovation always builds on the past. The past always tries to control the creativity that builds upon it. Free societies…

— Lawrence Lessig

I don't support direct democracy because I want a life, and that means I want to select people who work for me…

— Lawrence Lessig

The principle, that should be a fundamental principle in our democracy, the principle of "one person, one vote," says that the vote…

— Lawrence Lessig

And with a practice of writing comes a certain important integrity. A culture filled with bloggers thinks differently about politics or public…

— Lawrence Lessig

So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in ideas that we don't even notice how monstrous it is to deny…

— Lawrence Lessig

Notwithstanding the fact that the most innovative and progressive space we've seen - the Internet - has been the place where intellectual…

— Lawrence Lessig

Before the monopoly should be permitted, there must be reason to believe it will do some good - for society, and not…

— Lawrence Lessig

“It is said that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it. That’s not quite correct. We all forget…

— Lawrence Lessig

Creation always involves building upon something else. There is no art that doesn't reuse. And there will be less art if every…

— Lawrence Lessig

In these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to find a way to get people to wonder again…

— Lawrence Lessig

By the time Apple's Macintosh operating system finally falls into the public domain, there will be no machine that could possibly run…

— Lawrence Lessig

If the only way a library can offer an Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear…

— Lawrence Lessig