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Free Culture comes to mind, along with the author. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Free_Culture_%28book%29 https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedi

• schrototo 15y ago
  But that's exactly the same issue: not only are people who read Lessig predisposed to these kinds of publishing ventures, that very book is about issues related with that. Doctorow or Lessig succeeding at this is somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • Create 15y ago
    sure. When Lessig "accuses" societies of x-financing themselves with high journal prices, he actually does the same, using his secured tenure. I'm almost certain, that he couldn't care less about the Free Culture's contributions to his pension plan's bottom line. Or of other's, for that matter -- I guess. Then again, cross-financing i.e. investigative journalism didn't serve power well, and in the end of the day, it was obvious to almost completely replace it with PR for the publishers. Cory also knows this: there is far less overhead to write fiction than to track down and uncover i.e. the broadcast flag. He can achieve the former, but could not kindle and leverage social pressure to prevent HDMI from happening. Kudos to him, that he tried. OTOH, nothing really stops publishers to degenerate into parasites, either. They can be useful, and some are, but on the whole, the economics can be completely changed -- not unlike when movable type came in. Moreover, one can cite examples, when publishers/media are downright harmful, only to maximise private profit. Lessig and Doctorow raise this issue: publishers seem to be doing their part of fulfilling the prophecy too.