I just learned that Lawrence Lessig has decided to shift the focus of his work.
The man who reinvented IP law, creating the revolutionary Creative Commons movement is moving on.com.
First. Kudos Once you have become the authority of something (and I dare anyone to suggest that Lessig isn’t the world’s authority on copyright law), I imagine it is hard to walk away.
But walk away he must. It’s time to try something new.
Lessig is going to fight "corruption"
"I don’t mean corruption in the simple sense of bribery. I mean
‘corruption’ in the sense that the system is so queered by the
influence of money that it can’t even get an issue as simple and clear
as term extension right. Politicians are starved for the resources
concentrated interests can provide. In the US, listening to money is
the only way to secure reelection. And so an economy of influence bends
public policy away from sense, always to dollars."
If anyone can tackle something that is as all pervasive as the broad notion of "corruption" that he proposes, it’s Lessig.
If Jimmy Wales is the Michael Jordon of the internet, then Lessig is his Scotti Pippen. Never underestimate the powers of Pippen.