From Microsoft’s antitrust problems to the perceived danger of the AOL/Time Warner merger to Napster’s on-line music venture, Lawrence Lessig in The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World explores many of the controversial issues that have arisen in today’s high-tech world. As new technologies, particularly the Internet, revolutionize the way we live and conduct business, Mr. Lessig sounds a clarion call to notify us that unless things change, the government and corporate titans will stifle the technology revolution and ensure that society does not reach its full potential.
In presenting his troubled outlook, Mr. Lessig draws considerably upon economic and other theorists in exploring the idea of the “commons” – an open space that all people can use freely. He expands the notion of the commons, from its original conception as a plot of land free for use by all, to more unusual forms of property such as cable wires, telephone lines and, most recently, the Internet. It is the commons, he argues, that ultimately provides the most beneficial structure for society to use its resources. In exploring this concept, Mr. Lessig provides several examples of situations in which over-regulation and adherence to outdated ideas prevented certain technology from maximizing its value. He targets the government and the major corporations as willing players in maintaining the status quo to the detriment of innovation and change.
