Continuing my series of posts on this week's Freedom to Connect conference, here is Larry Lessig's closing keynote. It was a big thrill for me to see Larry deliver one of his trademark presentations in person. I remember the first time I saw one online: his Free Culture introduction from OSCON 2002. That was my first introduction to copyright as an issue and I remember being amazed at both what an interesting topic it was and at how engagingly Larry delivered it (he was the pioneer of fast-moving, slide-per-word presentations). Both the substance and style have been big influences on me. Larry has moved on from Copyright and Free Culture as core issues. In roughly 2007, after fighting the copyright fight for years, he came to realize that the fundamental problem preventing progress on copyright -- and on every other issue confronting us -- was corruption in government. The fact that policy and politics are moved by money, not by people. He sees this as the root problem, and is channeling all of his efforts through his new organization, the Root Strikers. I really like the way he's presenting his case: that everyone doesn't have to take on money-in-politics as their first issue, but it should be their second. In other words, focus on whatever primary issue moves you, but realize that this problem affects everything, and keep it as your #2 priority. I think this is a clever framing, and it really works for me. So, I would encourage you to watch this video -- it frames "the war against community broadband" as the first issue, backed by corruption as a underlying theme. Kudos to David Isenberg for putting on a great event this week -- I really enjoyed it, and having Larry as the closer was a great finish.
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