Great video on copyright law, remix and free culture. Disney was one of the great mashup artists of his time and ahead of many of his contemporaries in the use of technology to remix culture. But through corporate lobbying, the concept of copyright went from supporting creativity to a situation where a new generation of digitally literate kids are in regular violation of the law. This isn’t about stealing music and down downloading movies illegally; it is about fair-use and that the law needs to adapt to the new landscape of the digital revolution.
I’m not that hopeful in the short term, but perhaps down the road, Lawrence Lessig may be the inspiration for kids to effect change. After all, it’s the world they are inheriting and right now it’s a contradictory mess between the forces of creativity and innovation on the one side and legal codes that were written for a wholly different era.
