Question: Mr. Lessig: you state that you will defend the values of the internet. What have you actually done to defend the values of the internet?

Nominee Replies

Emerson Tiller, J.D., Ph.D. - posted on 2000-09-29 18:35:42 Professor Lessig has made monumental contributions in defending values (whether they be his or otherwise) associated with the Internet. Most of them I agree with, some I don't. But his commitment to those values cannot be questioned. Karl Auerbach - posted on 2000-09-24 22:23:51 I can't answer for Larry Lessig, but I will answer for myself: I personally value people very highly - they are the only things on this planet capable of independent thought, creativity, and art. It is my intent to work to promote the net as a vehicle to enhance these very human values. Barbara Simons - posted on 2000-09-23 16:30:31 Although this question is addressed to Larry Lessig, I feel that it is a relevant question for all of the candidates. I have been working for years at defending the values of the Internet. My opposition to censorship and support of privacy and anonymity is illustrated in part by my being on both the Electronic Privacy Information Center Board and the ZeroKnowledge Systems Inc. Advisory Board. Here are a few specific examples. I have: - commissioned Codes, Keys, and Conflicts: Issues in U.S. Crypto Policy - the first study of U.S. encryption policy, published in 1994; - testified before a Senate subcommittee in favor of the legislation that would significantly reduce export controls on encryption; - spoken out and written letters against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because of the security implications of criminalizing technologies and technological devices instead of behaviors; - spoken out and written letters in opposition to UCITA, a direct threat to the security and robustness of software and the Internet; - submitted a supporting declaration for the defense in the New York DVD trial ; - fought efforts to establish wide-spread monitoring by law enforcement of the Internet and to protect access to strong encryption. Lawrence Lessig - posted on 2000-09-22 16:45:48 Fair enough. I am a lawyer, not a coder. I have spent the last six years trying to understand, and then defend values I see as implicit in the architecture of the net. I have done this by participating is litigation to defend these values, and by selling this message in every context I can. So for example: • I filed a expert report in the Napster case, defending Napster, and urging the court not to ban emerging peer to peer technologies. • I filed a friend of the court brief in the Cyberpatrol case, defending the right of sites to post copies of cpHack. cpHack made it possible to identify sites that the censorware Cyberpatrol has blocked. • I filed an expert report and a statement before the FCC defending the principle of end-to-end against changes to the architecture by cable manufacturers giving them the power to control content and access over the internet. • I have testified against flawed regulations of the net imposing IDs on adults before they can get access to porn and against flawed code (censorware) that is undermining free speech values on the net. • I am lead counsel in a case challenging the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, (aka, the copyright term extension act) which extends (for the 11th time in 38 years) the term for copyright, making it impossible for online collections such as Project Gutenberg and Eldritch Press to publish public domain works. • I have given literally scores of talks around the world to lawyers and policy makers about the values in the original net, and the changes that threaten those values -- in particular, from patents, and increased protection for copyright. This is nothing compared with the work of organizations like eff, cdt, or the aclu. But then this is not my day job. For better or worse, I make lawyers for a living. This other stuff is on my own time.