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1、Lessigs Code Where Do You Want To Go Today? Have you ever heard that phrase before? Its actually been a hard one to miss. Microsofts been asking that question repeatedly for at least a year or two. It refers to the option that is currently available to anyone with a computer to embark on Internet ex
2、cursions to new places. Its a good question, one that has an impact on us all right now. And where we want to go today may directly influence where we can go tomorrow. Its our future, but in order for it to become what we want it to be, it will have to be secured with positive actions on our part, t
3、aken without the slightest hesitation. And if good people dont take action now, corporations like Microsoft will make their own assessments of whats good for us and make these important decisions without us. Is it the corporations that you want, determining what your options for tomorrow will be? No
4、t me!I recently read two items that definitely got my heart pumping. First, I laboriously plowed through a recent book called Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig. This scholarly treatise made me struggle like a ten-year-old kid attempting to complete a college course in an afternoon
5、. It even had small print! Nevertheless, I felt strangely compelled to consume its 234-footnoted pages as quickly as possible. My second reading was a letter from my dear friend Bea that began, “If the enclosed article doesnt scare you, nothing will”. The article, The Doomsday Click by Michael Spect
6、er, was from a recent issue of The New Yorker May 28, 2001. It asked the question, “How easily could a hacker bring the world to a standstill?” Its a frightening thought! I work with computers so I read it diligently.Bea has been my special friend for several years now, mainly because her twelve-yea
7、r-old granddaughter, Sonya, has been my computer buddy since she was two. Consequently, Bea has tested me over the years to make sure the computers influence on Sonya was a positive one. Bea, a former schoolteacher now in her 70s, has raised her concerns about the dark side of the Internet to me for
8、 at least the last three years. Now an article from no less than The New Yorker is stirring her up! Dont get me wrong; Beas an exceptional person. Shes adventurous, articulate and very politically aware. She now dabbles with her granddaughters old computer and has recently enrolled in an evening cla
9、ss to become more aware of just what PCs do and to keep up-to-date with the world around her; I take her concerns seriously.Because of both readings, I was then left to ponder the following complexities. Even though I see Professor Lessigs ideas as extremely important to everyone, others may not be
10、so enthusiastic. It just may be because of my current work in computers that I find his perceptions more fascinating than another person might. I certainly didnt feel that his words in his book were packaged for mass consumption; I felt that some thoughts were beyond scholarly and I became very torn
11、. If people like Bea could easily put their arms around Lessigs themes, I knew that theyd be championing the future issues of the Internet to their friends, to their children, to everyone! I thought that if I could distill the essence of Lessigs thoughts into some lighter fare, perhaps into just a f
12、ew easily readable pages for the enjoyment of Bea and others, I might be able to help him spread his word further and, at the same time, accomplish a literary feat of definite Pulitzer proportions. What has resulted is contained in the following paragraphs; it is my attempt at capturing the heart of
13、 Professor Lessigs magnificent work. By using his books text directly, as well as some text from his article “Code is Law”, which appeared in The Harvard Magazine, Ive tried to spotlight his major arguments while faithfully summarizing and condensing his thoughts. Ive also mixed in some of the many
14、comments and reviews written on this book, along with a few of my own to help keep things straight in my mind. For those who consider themselves computer literate and wish to do their own research and analysis, theres a wealth of information on Code available to you at:http:/code-is-law.org/reviews.
15、htmlhttp:/bcis.law.harvard.edu:8081/Code/guestshttp:/www.lessig.org/Better yet, read Lessigs book! If not, turn the page; youll find Lessigs ideas extremely interesting and worthy of your full attention.Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace SimplifiedA few months back, when I started to read about Dr. L
16、essig, I had little knowledge of either him or his work; I only knew that he taught law at Stanford and had appeared as an expert witness for the Government in the most recent Microsoft antitrust trial. However, within the first few pages of his book, Dr. Lessig had posed several questions of constitutional law and its relevance in cyberspace and had vividly described the dark blend
