Republic, Lost from lessig on Vimeo.

This should be required viewing for all those who think democracy is important.

I met Lawrence Lessig this evening (he’s the skinny one in the picture).  He gave a lecture at BGSU – From Copyright to Corruption and Back Again.  The talk was a little less than an hour and in true Lessig style had more than 650 slides.  I talked with him for a few minutes before his presentation.  I only had time for a couple of questions.

Q1 – Who is the tougher crowd?  A room full of college students or the US Supreme Court?

A1 – Definitely the college students.

Q2 – Who will win in the end?  Shepard Fairey, Mannie Garcia or the Associated Press?

A2 – I actually represent Shepard, so I’m a little biased.  He will win.

It was a pleasure to meet the founder of the Creative Commons foundation.  Lessig said (for the first time in public) that more than 350,000,000 works have been licensed with some form of Creative Commons.  He talked mostly about copyright, but has shifted his energy to a campaign against corruption.  Combining the efforts of Change Congress with a new (yet to be named) group, the goal is to change the way money gets to politicians.  One statistic he gave was that the average investment with a lobbyist in Washington D.C. gives a 22,000% return.  He then gave example after example of how congress has made the wrong choice in legislation, choosing the side of the lobbyists over represented constituents.  If the money can be taken out of the equation, politicians should stop voting like idiots and start representing the people who elected them.

The talk was informative, entertaining and inspiring.  If you have the chance to sit in on a lecture, I highly recommend it.