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Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Tuesday, 26 Jan 2027 - 18:00
The Internet and the First Fight for Free Culture
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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.
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