Book Review

Is This Progress?:
The Future of Ideas,
the fate of the commons in a connected world
by Lawrence Lessig (Random House, 2001)

reviewed by Richard A. Forsten, Esquire

In his book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Professor Lawrence Lessig argued that the internet and other computer networks could be shaped by the software, or "code," that users used to access and use the internet. Ultimately, his point was that there is nothing preordained about the way the internet works and that through the use of software, programmers can create tightly controlled environments or wide open environments. There is a choice.

His new book, The Future of Ideas, the fate of the commons in a connected world, is about that choice – and Lessig is very concerned about the choices now being made. Indeed, Lessig believes the "code" of cyberspace is changing in a way detrimental to the "future of ideas" and innovation. Whereas historically the internet has been a neutral open platform that has fostered innovation, Lessig now believes that an "architecture of control" is being imposed which will dampen innovation and lead to a greatly restricted flow of ideas and information, unless those in control approve (or make money from) such flow. He concludes his book with the following observations:

"These two companies – AOL Time Warner and Microsoft – will define the next five years of the Internet’s life. Neither company has committed itself to a neutral and open platform. Hence, the next five years will be radically different from the past ten. Innovation in content and applications will be as these platform owners permit. Additions that benefit either company will be encouraged; additions that don’t, won’t. We have recreated the network of old AT&T, but now on the platform of the Internet. Content and access will once again be controlled; the innovation commons will have been carved up and sold. This is the future of ideas.… We move through this moment of an architecture of innovation to, once again, embrace an architecture of control – without noticing, without resistance, without so much as a question….We are doing nothing about it."

Lessig paints a grim future, but even he concedes that it doesn’t have to be that way. What makes his book especially interesting reading, though, is not his conclusions, but his highly readable and excellent explanation of the history of the internet, how it works, how it can be controlled, etc. Lessig also does an excellent job in explaining the Napster case, MP3, and a host of other internet issues, and how the law surrounding these issues has developed.

The history of the internet and how it came to be is one of the most interesting parts of the book. What is so interesting is the fact that the internet and the world wide web happened in spite of so many barriers and so many people who failed to see its potential (indeed, even many of those who figure prominently in the history of the internet never foresaw what it has become). But much of what allowed the internet to happen, an intellectual "commons" that allowed innovators to build on earlier blocks, is now threatened, according to Lessig, by the direction that the internet is now taking. For example, internet service providers (ISPs) have the capability to block certain web sites or favor certain web sites at the expense of others. An ISP could, for example, demand payment from other sites, or otherwise restrict its users from accessing these sites. In some cases, users might not even notice these restrictions. Presumably users could switch to other services if they were sufficiently dissatisfied, and an ISP might then relent if it saw an exodus of users, but users might not notice that they don’t have access. Alternatively, access could be less efficient for some sites and more efficient (faster, less ads, etc.) for preferred sites.

At the end of the day, Lessig’s book is a plea for citizens to start waking up and paying attention. He is concerned that so much of what is happening is being shaped by large commercial companies with their own interests at heart rather than the interests of the public. He tells the story of AOL, which for several years argued that broadband cable lines should be open to all internet providers (rather than limited to the cable companies which installed the lines), a policy called "open access." Following its merger with Time-Warner, though, AOL changed direction and opposed "open access." The reason for the change: Time-Warner, of course, owned numerous cable companies. The point is not whether "open access" is the preferable policy, but that interested parties work in their own interest.

Open access is just one issue that will shape the internet in the years to come. There are, literally, dozens of others, each with the potential to have great or small impacts. Some of these issues are technological, but just as many are legal and policy issues. How all of these issues sort themselves out come remains to be seen, but, whether you agree with Lessig’s views or not, his book provides a good introduction to many of these important issues.

This review began with a quote from the concluding pages of Lessig’s book, let me end with a quote from the beginning:

"The argument of this book is that always and everywhere, free resources have been crucial to innovation and creativity; that without them, creativity is crippled. Thus, and especially in the digital age, the central question becomes not whether government or the market should control a resource, but whether a resource should be controlled at all. Just because control is possible, it doesn’t follow that it is justified. Instead, in a free society, the burden of justification should fall on him who would defend systems of control.

"No simple answer will satisfy this demand. The choice is not between all or none. Obviously many resources must be controlled if they are to be produced or sustained. . . . But likewise, and obviously, many resources should be free. . . . These resources and others gain value by being kept free rather than controlled. A mature society realizes that value by protecting such resources from both private and public control. . . .

"Yet at just the time that the Internet is reminding us about the extraordinary value of freedom, the Internet is being changed to take that freedom away. Just as we are beginning to see the power that free resources produce, changes in the architecture of the Internet – both legal and technical – are sapping the Internet of this power. Fueled by a bias in favor of control, pushed by those whose financial interests favor control, our social and political institutions are ratifying changes in the Internet that will reestablish control and, in turn, reduce innovation on the Internet and in society generally."

Return to March 2002 Table of Contents.