X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/text-free-culture-lessig.git/blobdiff_plain/e96ecd65a62ec83d982a37097b12ea9ca2cefb9e..949dbf70376c0d9779963e220be441fc47c6edd8:/freeculture.xml diff --git a/freeculture.xml b/freeculture.xml index d77f30a..a991668 100644 --- a/freeculture.xml +++ b/freeculture.xml @@ -2439,8 +2439,7 @@ Professor Ed Felten of Princeton (whom we'll see more of in chapter tinker" as it applies to computer science and to knowledge in general. -See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, "Technological - Access +See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, "Technological Access Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship," Communications of the Association for Computer Machinery 43 (2000): 9. @@ -2448,18 +2447,16 @@ But Brown's concern is earlier, or younger, or more fundamental. It is about the learning that kids can do, or can't do, because of the law. -"This is where education in the twenty-first century is going," -Brown explains. We need to "understand how kids who grow up - digital -think and want to learn." +"This is where education in the twenty-first century is going," Brown +explains. We need to "understand how kids who grow up digital think +and want to learn." "Yet," as Brown continued, and as the balance of this book will evince, "we are building a legal system that completely suppresses the -natural tendencies of today's digital kids. . . . We're building an - architecture -that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal system that -closes down that part of the brain." +natural tendencies of today's digital kids. . . . We're building an +architecture that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal +system that closes down that part of the brain." We're building a technology that takes the magic of Kodak, mixes @@ -2476,69 +2473,59 @@ chapter 9, quipped to me in a rare moment of despondence. CHAPTER THREE: Catalogs -In the fall of 2002, Jesse Jordan of Oceanside, New York, enrolled -as a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. -His major at RPI was information technology. Though he is not a - programmer, -in October Jesse decided to begin to tinker with search - engine -technology that was available on the RPI network. +In the fall of 2002, Jesse Jordan of Oceanside, New York, enrolled as +a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. +His major at RPI was information technology. Though he is not a +programmer, in October Jesse decided to begin to tinker with search +engine technology that was available on the RPI network. -RPI is one of America's foremost technological research - institutions. -It offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and - engineering -to information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five -thousand undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high -school class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience -to imagine and then build, a generation for the network age. +RPI is one of America's foremost technological research institutions. +It offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and engineering +to information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five thousand +undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high school +class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience to +imagine and then build, a generation for the network age. -RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration -to one another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything - available -on the RPI network is available on the Internet. But the network -is designed to enable students to get access to the Internet, as well as -more intimate access to other members of the RPI community. +RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration to +one another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything +available on the RPI network is available on the Internet. But the +network is designed to enable students to get access to the Internet, +as well as more intimate access to other members of the RPI community. Search engines are a measure of a network's intimacy. Google -brought the Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically improving -the quality of search on the network. Specialty search engines can do -this even better. The idea of "intranet" search engines, search engines -that search within the network of a particular institution, is to provide -users of that institution with better access to material from that - institution. -Businesses do this all the time, enabling employees to have - access -to material that people outside the business can't get. Universities -do it as well. - - -These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. - Microsoft, -for example, has a network file system that makes it very easy -for search engines tuned to that network to query the system for - information -about the publicly (within that network) available content. -Jesse's search engine was built to take advantage of this technology. It -used Microsoft's network file system to build an index of all the files -available within the RPI network. - - -Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. - Indeed, -his engine was a simple modification of engines that others had -built. His single most important improvement over those engines was -to fix a bug within the Microsoft file-sharing system that could cause a -user's computer to crash. With the engines that existed before, if you -tried to access a file through a Windows browser that was on a - computer -that was off-line, your computer could crash. Jesse modified the -system a bit to fix that problem, by adding a button that a user could -click to see if the machine holding the file was still on-line. +brought the Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically +improving the quality of search on the network. Specialty search +engines can do this even better. The idea of "intranet" search +engines, search engines that search within the network of a particular +institution, is to provide users of that institution with better +access to material from that institution. Businesses do this all the +time, enabling employees to have access to material that people +outside the business can't get. Universities do it as well. + + +These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. +Microsoft, for example, has a network file system that makes it very +easy for search engines tuned to that network to query the system for +information about the publicly (within that network) available +content. Jesse's search engine was built to take advantage of this +technology. It used Microsoft's network file system to build an index +of all the files available within the RPI network. + + +Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. +Indeed, his engine was a simple modification of engines that others +had built. His single most important improvement over those engines +was to fix a bug within the Microsoft file-sharing system that could +cause a user's computer to crash. With the engines that existed +before, if you tried to access a file through a Windows browser that +was on a computer that was off-line, your computer could crash. Jesse +modified the system a bit to fix that problem, by adding a button that +a user could click to see if the machine holding the file was still +on-line. Jesse's engine went on-line in late October. Over the following six @@ -2559,45 +2546,39 @@ computer. But the index also included music files. In fact, one quarter of the -files that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that means, -of course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this point is - absolutely -clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to put music files in -their public folders. He did nothing to target the search engine to these -files. He was a kid tinkering with a Google-like technology at a - university -where he was studying information science, and hence, - tinkering -was the aim. Unlike Google, or Microsoft, for that matter, he made -no money from this tinkering; he was not connected to any business -that would make any money from this experiment. He was a kid - tinkering -with technology in an environment where tinkering with - technology -was precisely what he was supposed to do. +files that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that +means, of course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this +point is absolutely clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to +put music files in their public folders. He did nothing to target the +search engine to these files. He was a kid tinkering with a +Google-like technology at a university where he was studying +information science, and hence, tinkering was the aim. Unlike Google, +or Microsoft, for that matter, he made no money from this tinkering; +he was not connected to any business that would make any money from +this experiment. He was a kid tinkering with technology in an +environment where tinkering with technology was precisely what he was +supposed to do. On April 3, 2003, Jesse was contacted by the dean of students at RPI. The dean informed Jesse that the Recording Industry Association of America, the RIAA, would be filing a lawsuit against him and three -other students whom he didn't even know, two of them at other - universities. -A few hours later, Jesse was served with papers from the suit. -As he read these papers and watched the news reports about them, he -was increasingly astonished. - - -"It was absurd," he told me. "I don't think I did anything wrong. . . . -I don't think there's anything wrong with the search engine that I ran -or . . . what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't modified it in any way -that promoted or enhanced the work of pirates. I just modified the -search engine in a way that would make it easier to use"—again, a -search engine, which Jesse had not himself built, using the Windows - filesharing -system, which Jesse had not himself built, to enable members -of the RPI community to get access to content, which Jesse had not -himself created or posted, and the vast majority of which had nothing -to do with music. +other students whom he didn't even know, two of them at other +universities. A few hours later, Jesse was served with papers from +the suit. As he read these papers and watched the news reports about +them, he was increasingly astonished. + + +"It was absurd," he told me. "I don't think I did anything +wrong. . . . I don't think there's anything wrong with the search +engine that I ran or . . . what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't +modified it in any way that promoted or enhanced the work of +pirates. I just modified the search engine in a way that would make it +easier to use"—again, a search engine, which Jesse had not +himself built, using the Windows filesharing system, which Jesse had +not himself built, to enable members of the RPI community to get +access to content, which Jesse had not himself created or posted, and +the vast majority of which had nothing to do with music. But the RIAA branded Jesse a pirate. They claimed he operated a @@ -2635,15 +2616,14 @@ $12,000 to dismiss the case. The RIAA wanted Jesse to admit to doing something wrong. He -refused. They wanted him to agree to an injunction that would - essentially -make it impossible for him to work in many fields of technology -for the rest of his life. He refused. They made him understand that this -process of being sued was not going to be pleasant. (As Jesse's father -recounted to me, the chief lawyer on the case, Matt Oppenheimer, told -Jesse, "You don't want to pay another visit to a dentist like me.") And -throughout, the RIAA insisted it would not settle the case until it took -every penny Jesse had saved. +refused. They wanted him to agree to an injunction that would +essentially make it impossible for him to work in many fields of +technology for the rest of his life. He refused. They made him +understand that this process of being sued was not going to be +pleasant. (As Jesse's father recounted to me, the chief lawyer on the +case, Matt Oppenheimer, told Jesse, "You don't want to pay another +visit to a dentist like me.") And throughout, the RIAA insisted it +would not settle the case until it took every penny Jesse had saved. Jesse's family was outraged at these claims. They wanted to fight. @@ -2656,8 +2636,7 @@ won, he would have a piece of paper saying he had won, and a piece of paper saying he and his family were bankrupt. -So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at - winning, +So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at winning, or $12,000 and a settlement.