I really enjoyed the video. For one thing, it was good to put a face to the author of the book Code 2.0 we've been studying the past few weeks. Also, he just reiterated the points he made in his book about copyright and piracy. Just like laws needed to be modified/clarified when airplanes were said to trespass over farmland, laws now need to be updated/changed to distinguish between piracy and ability to re-create. In his book Code 2.0, Lessig asks the question of the balance between law and technology to control such issues (p. 200). He says that writers/authors/composers (basically creators) need to have a choice for how they let people use their protected ideas. But law is necessary to create/keep the balance and give "public some access, but not complete access" (Lessig, p. 185) to the creator's production. The other argument he makes is that people (children specifically) will be pirates otherwise, which is corrosive.
In terms of public administration, it will be important to make policies about conflicting issues such as these: piracy and copyright and (re)creativity. If we do not make such policies that balance out the issues (as Lessig describes), we will be dooming society to an underground network of re-creation and so-called piracy similar to the underground networks during Prohibition. The question will be how we can do this to make all parties satisfied. Not sure that is possible.
While my interest in public administration has little to do with making policies or casting judgement, I want to be a more informed and active citizen. As one who is familiar with re-creation (have seen it but have not done it myself), I can see the value in protecting one's right to do that. However, I can also understand the need to protect original work. It will be interesting to see what happens regarding legislation in this area.
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