The Internet and the First Fight for Free Culture

New technologies have always tested copyright, from the printing press to the photocopier. But the Internet posed a more profound test: dramatically reducing the cost of producing and sharing ideas, weakening copyright enforcement.

This lecture reveals how a fight began between ‘Big Media’ – TV networks, record labels, film studios, large publishers – seeking to reinforce existing laws, and a ‘free culture’ movement – led by figures like Lawrence Lessig, James Boyle, and Aaron Swartz – that tried to resist. This fight exposed shortcomings in the copyright regime, yet it still endured.