Quotes by Lawrence Lessig

If “piracy means using the creative property of others without their permission- if “if value, then right” is true- then the history of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of “big media” today- film, records, radio, and cable TV-was born of a kind of piracy so defined. The consistent story is how last generation’s pirates join this generation’s country club-until now.

And with a practice of writing comes a certain important integrity. A culture filled with bloggers thinks differently about politics or public affairs, if only because more have been forced through the discipline of showing in writing why A leads to B.

Notwithstanding the fact that the most innovative and progressive space weve seen - the Internet - has been the place where intellectual property has been least respected. You know, facts dont get in the way of this ideology.

When government disappears, its not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.

Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device.

A culture without property, or in which creators cant get paid, is anarchy, not freedom.