Team Lessig: Code 2.0

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Code 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig

• FOR FULL TEXT GO TO http://codev2.cc/

• CODE 2.0 is the second version of an original book about cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig.

This book is a compilation of the first edition and contributions from the CODE 2.0 Wiki page. For further information please see THIS LINK

• For additional information about the author please visit his website LAWRENCE LESSIG

Table of Contents

• Part I: REGULABILITY
• Chapter 1: Code is Law
• Chapter 2: Four Puzzles from Cyberspace
• Chapter 3: Is-ism
• Chapter 4: Architectures of Control
• Chapter 5: Regulating Code
• Part II: CODE AND OTHER REGULATORS
• Chapter 6: Cyber-spaces
• Chapter 7: What Things Regulate
• Chapter 8: The Limits in Open Code
• Part III: APPLICATIONS
• Chapter 9: Translation
• Chapter 10: Intellectual Property
• Chapter 11: Privacy
• Chapter 12: Free Speech
• Chapter 13: Interlude
• Chapter 14: Sovereignty
• Part IV: RESPONDING
• Chapter 15: The Problems We Face
• Chapter 16: Responses
• Part V: Responses
• Chapter 17: The Problems We Face
• Chapter 18: Responses
• Chapter 19: What Declan Doesn't Get

Part I

“From anonymity to control”

Chapter 3: Is-Ism: Is the Way It Is the Way It Must Be?

• This chapter explores the idea that most people assume that because the internet is currently not being governmentally regulated, that it will never be, and should never be, regulated.
• “The original architecture of the internet made regulation very difficult. But that original architecture can change.”
• Example is Harvard University, where network access is only granted to students and faculty whose identity is known and actions are controlled.
• The design of the internet creates an “invisible man” with no physical characteristics.
• Therefore, it is difficult to enforce separate, or any, rules among internet users.

Part II

"The aim of this part is to explore this distinctive mode of regulation as a step to understanding more systematically the interaction between technology and policy." -Lawrence Lessig

Chapter 6: Cyberspaces

• BIG IDEAS:
• Cyberspaces give Internet users a easier and different approach to life due to the easy access of things. Ex: Books-Amazon.com
• Lessig provides an easy visual to illustrate his idea of the regulation of cyberspace. He compares regulation to a how prison bars regulate the movement of a prisoner or how stairs regulate the access of the disabled.
• Communities such as America Online and Second Life are communities because the are designed architecturally that way. They are meant to serve the users in a specific way. Each community has rules that are set up as guidelines, to aid in keeping the community organized and easy to use.
• Everytime you use the Internet, you are following a code, a setup, of how the site is controlled or how the community operate

Chapter 7: What Things Regulate

• BIG IDEAS:
• Lessig explains the four constraints of cyber-spaces which include: Norms, Market, Law, and Architecture

• These constraints are meant to aid in understanding how the internet is regulated. Each constraint depends on one another and effects how the cyberspace will function. Another diagram is used to explain this reliance:
• 

Chapter 8: The Limits In Open Code

• BIG IDEAS

Part III

Part IV

An important difference to consider is the idea of Internet vs. Cyberspace.

Cyberspace allows control, creativity and freedom.

The Internet lacks these qualities and the massive omnipresence of Cyberspace.

Sovereignty and freedom are integral parts of the American persona. Here, Lessig, speaks on the falsification of that ideal.

Control on the internet is passing.

There are codes upon codes that attempt to "authenticate" the individual entering a website such as a bill paying website.

These codes can damage society through its constant control that cannot be found in the real world.

Forms of sovereignty:

Bold textMerchant Sovereignty - The idea to simply take our business somewhere that satifies our needs. If we do not want McDonald's, we can go to Wendy's. They impose rules on us, but we also have a right to choose.

Bold textCitizen Sovereignty - We are like a "stakeholder with a voice". We have a say in the structure and direction of the entity.

The competitive pressure for the attention of the individual is great in cyberspace.

Although there is competition over users, there is great competition between companies to make transition of acquired belongings difficult for its users.

Part V

After reading PART V consider these:

• What is the "Age of the Ostrich?"
• What is it that we have to lose?

Chapter 16: The Problems We Face

3 Reasons why American's are disable in properly facing cyberspace issues

• limited courts -
  • "It is against this background that we should think about the problems

raised in Parts 3 and 4. In each case, my argument was that we will need to choose the values we want cyberspace to embrace. These questions are not addressed by any clear constitutional text or tradition. In the main, they are questions affecting the codifying part of our tradition, but they are also cases of latent ambiguity. There is no answer to them in the sense of a judgment that seems to have been made and that a court can simply report. An answer must be fixed upon, not found; made, not discovered; chosen, not reported." (Lessig 315)

• limited legislatures -
  • "But the problemhere is not with governance in cyberspace.Our problem

is with governance itself. There is no special set of dilemmas that cyberspace will present; there are only the familiar dilemmas of modern governance, but in a new place." (Lessig 320)

• limited thinking - Ask your self these these questions before reading this section and answer them when you're done. -
  • "Of course, for the computer scientist code is law. And if code is law, then

obviously the question we should ask is:Who are the lawmakers?Who writes this law that regulates us? What role do we have in defining this regulation? What right do we have to know of the regulation? And how might we intervene to check it?"

Chapter 17: Responses

• For excellent work exploring how cyberspace might advance this general project see:

Beth Simone Noveck, Designing Deliberative Democracy in Cyberspace: The

Role of the Cyber-Lawyer, Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law 9

Chapter 18: What Declan Doesn't Get

• Check out the website of the guy this chapter is about: Duclan McCullagh

• Lawrence Lessig Gives a Speech on You Tube about Internet Governance

Key Terms

1. Change from a cyberspace of anarchy to a cyberspace of control.