Finishing a book is a good feeling that I haven't had in quite some time. So when I bought an e-book reader I had to admit to myself that I would need to change some habits to actually be able to get soem use out of the machine. Luckily being a stay at home Dad allows some time for book reading.

Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig This was an interesting book that I read to get a better idea about the copyright laws and the changes to them that are going on in the USA. I've been an interested follower of the creative commons licensing and understanding how and why it has come about and how it is being used.

While the book is separated into sections for me it really boiled down to two sections the initial portion was the issues with the existing copyright system, and the later section being the court case to try and change the laws and then, given the outcome, the creative commons licenses.

The first section was a great read outlining what is lost in American society as a result of the copyright laws being what they are. As a Canadian reader I was constantly wondering if the same things were true here in Canada, I know that our laws are different, and have recently just changed with the introduction of Bill C-11, it seems like from a personal use standpoint if someone is caught infringing the damanges can only be stutory damages adding up to a total of $5000, which is good. I liked the fact that through this book there was a distinction drawn between legal activities, like making a mix tape/cd or backing up your stuff and illegal activities, like downloading mainstream movies and the like. I think any copyright discussion really needs to draw that distinction, at the end of the day it shouldn't be the case that any creator should be unable to make money (even a lot of money) by selling their work and not having it stolen via the great-copy-machine (the internet).

The second section, the court case was a little less interesting to me, just because now it was not so much principles that I could apply back to my own country but the specifics of the American court case. I read it all the same, but it was a bit of a slog for me.

All in all, I think the book is well worth reading if you're interested in copyright.