The future of ideas....

In this excerpt from his book, Prof. Lawrence Lessig worries about the over-arching structure of intellectual property law choking the freedom of the internet. Frankly, I do not share his concerns.

If the RIAA v. Napster/Morpheus/Grokster cases show anything, it is that regulating the internet is a steep uphill battle. With open-source products (Firefox etc.) constantly competing with paid products, and an open source atmosphere constantly challenging any attempts to shut down various peer-to-peer file sharing networks, I don't see any company/corporation being able to enforce their copyrights on any except other large corporations.

Internet amateurs (often much more skilled than professionals) can always stay one step ahead of large companies when it comes to internet innovation. Due to an environment that encourages high quality computer code, and an active dislike for large companies, I don't see how the transformation from an open market of ideas to a regulated 'cable TV' on the computer.

Then again, Lessig is probably much smarter than me...