Stephen Downes

Or, as Lawrence Lessig suggests, has it been murdered? This transcript of an interview with W. Brian Arthur, Andy Grove, and Lawrence Lessig is a great read. OLDaily readers have seen most of the arguments before, but there's a lot more colour in this conversational presentation. The theme that emerges is that the content industry is fighting a war with the technology industry, with the content industry waving the red flag, as in: "Around about 1865, the coach makers and the coaching industry in England passed a law -- the famous Red Flag law -- and it said anybody with an automobile -- in those days they were steam automobiles -- had to, number one, obey a speed limit of 4 miles per hour ... and you had to have a man walking in front waving a red flag." Now picture, if you will, the freeway system were such a law still in effect. CRLFCRLF