In a useful, humorous and typically urbane discussion of the politics of the mashup, Larry Lessig guides us through the values that sit behind the ideals of ‘openness’. Openness for Lessig is a commitment to the values of ‘freedom’, ‘community’, ‘limited regulation’, ‘respecting the creator’. These are, of course, traditionally right-wing values (derived from the principal of liberty). However, Lessig intimates through his articulation of the respect for the creator and for community that the political ecology of openness isn’t simply ‘everyone for themselves’ but rather a (self-)mediated and negotiated sharing of ‘content’ and ideas.
Readers may be interested to follow up the YouTube video/talk Lessig takes as his inspiration in the middle section of his talk: The video in question was created by Julian Sanchez, who works at ‘libertarian’ think tank The Cato Institute, and is embedded here:
