Lawrence Lessig Lecture On Aaron Swartz, Law And Justice In The Digital Age

Lawrence Lessig marked his appointment as Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School with a lecture titled “Aaron’s Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age.” The lecture focuses on the Aaron Swartz case which Lessig says he approaches less as an intellectual and more as a citizen and friend given his extensive personal history with Swartz. Lessig also clarified Swartz’s position on copyright.

At the center of [Aaron’s] struggle is and was copyright. In the debate between people who are pro and anti copyright, Aaron was on neither side.” Rather, he opposed “dumb copyright.” A perfect example was Swartz’s efforts to liberate data from PACER the database of public court records, which charged 8 cents a page. He was not violating copyright, technical restraints, terms of service or any other prohibitions. He had found a loophole. “A loophole for public good” as opposed to the loopholes used for private gain by lobbyists and tax lawyers...