Lawrence Lessig

American academic, political activist · United States · On the map · Academics · Born 1961 · age 65

Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III is an American legal scholar and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. He is the founder of Creative Commons and Equal Citizens.

Lawrence Lessig is read about 256 times a day, in 49 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2014Webby Lifetime Achievement AwardAward2013Honorary Doctorate of Lund UniversityAward2008“There’s going to be an i-9/11 event.”In their wordsFortune Brainstorm 2008 "2018: Life on the Net"-panelRead the whole statement

2007Berlin PrizeAward2004“A free culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the path we are on right now.”In their wordsFree Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text onlineRead the whole statement

“Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives dinosaurs a veto over the future.”In their wordsFree Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text onlineRead the whole statement

“Some people view the public domain with contempt.”In their wordsFree Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text onlineRead the whole statement

“It is valuable copyrights that are responsible for terms being extended. Mickey Mouse and "Rhapsody in Blue." These works are too valuable for copyright owners to ignore.”In their wordsFree Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text onlineRead the whole statement

“Now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to know what is protected and what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious burden on the creative process.”In their wordsFree Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text onlineRead the whole statement

2003FSF Award for the Advancement of Free SoftwareAward2002Scientific American 50Award1961Born3 June 1961

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Photos 8

Harvard internet law professor Jonathan Zittrain and Lessig in 2008

Lessig with fellow Creative Commons board member Joi Ito

Aaron Swartz and Lessig in 2002 at the launch party for Creative Commons

Lessig and Jimmy Wales at the iCommons iSummit07 in Dubrovnik

Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff having a discussion with Lessig

Lessig speaking before Change Congress and the Sunlight Foundation

In their own words 4

Lawrence Lessig

4 statements, newest first

Writing" is the Latin of our times. The modern language of the people is video and sound.
2006 · From Remix, Own words
There has never been a time in history when more of our "culture" was as "owned" as it is now.
2004 · Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text online, Own words
By insisting on the Constitution's limits to copyright, obviously Eldred was not endorsing piracy.
2004 · Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) - Full text online, Own words

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Awards

Webby Lifetime Achievement Award2014

Honorary Doctorate of Lund University2013

Berlin Prize2007

FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software2003

Scientific American 502002

About this person

Lessig was a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election but withdrew before the primaries.

Country

United States