Code: Act 1

Just about halfway in to Lawrence Lessig's Code and I would be lying to say that I wasn't, if not intrigued, certainly amused. Parts of Lessig's argument have been downright frightening to me, and in places, they verge on apocalyptic.

One connection that I'm having a hard time fostering is Lessig's connection between the market and the government. I'm in complete agreement that commercial control of the architectures of cyberspace leads to the domination of privatized interests (as discussed on p. 59 of the text), but how much different would it truly be if our current government's administration were at the helm establishing the code that would regulate the web? I would argue that this would place even more power into the hands of the private corporate interests given the indirect route that these interests have taken historically through various Washington bobbleheads.

I also have serious qualms about some of the talk of identification and verification through digital IDs that Lessig seems to be hinting at as a strong candidate for reform in this Internet age. The categorization that comes with all of the information that would be present on a strictly-regulated PKI system comes with dangerous ramifications, in my opinion, and runs counter to the idea of e-democracy that is so en vogue at this moment in time. Although this sort of authentication would be helpful with examples like illegal gambling , this would open the door to other instances where whomever happens to be controling the power would be able to allow only individuals with certain characteristics to view certain content. It's all a little too '1984' to me.

All of that said, compared with some of the previous texts, I have enjoyed seeing that Lessig is able to remain fairly balanced with the presentation of his theories. He has, thus, managed to avoid some of the Utopian language that was previously present and it's actually a refreshing (albeit, dense) read. I'm looking forward to reflecting farther on where Lessig is going with this upon completing the text. Good night!