Valenti of MPAA vs. Lessig of Stanford Law

RazzleDazzle writes: "There is a free and open debate between Jack Valenti of the MPAA vs Larry Lessig of Stanford Law about the DMCA. Following the disappointing loss of the Felton case this might be a good place to spread literature and show support for freedom if you can make it. ... This evening at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. For info on the live webcast click here. 2600 has more information."

Forum for questions

[Blipus]

If you're quick, you can still pose questions [usc.edu] for them to answer.

Re:Forum for questions

[Tackhead]

> If you're quick, you can still pose questions [usc.edu] for them to answer.

"Mr. Valenti, is it true that you and Hilary Rosen were caught in flagranto delecti in a menage-a-trois with a sheep?"

(I don't care if he was or not. I just wanna hear him deny it!)

Re:Forum for questions

[JCCyC]

Done. This is what I asked:

"In your opinion, what should be the right time for copyright expiration? And, in case you think the current time is just about right, will you be against an extension when Steamboat Wille is about to go to the public domain? (Let's suppose for the sake of argument that you're going to live that long)"

By the way...

[Eccles]

I found it interesting that the 2600 case made the home page of both USA Today and BBC News, and Felton's appeal dismissal also made the home page of USA Today. Sometimes I wonder if these issues are of interest beyond the /. crowd, but that seems to be an indication that someone else cares.

Valenti's position

[www.sorehands.com]

Valenti's position is that copyright should be absolute control and forever.

Re:Valenti's position

[MadAhab]

I don't think that comment should be moderated flamebait. Jack Valenti does think that.

Uhhhh....

[Sarcasmooo!]

Are they not allowing people to view a recording of the webcast? I'd love to see this but I left my time machine in my other pants.

arooo, where's the digital archive

[Anonymous Coward]

did anyone get an archive copy of this so we can view it post mortum. Or would that be violating the DMCA somehow?

THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE

[RazzleDazzle]

Archive here [usc.edu] Use your realplayer to open this file. For some reason I could not get sound though?? Could be just my client I suppose. Had volume maxed and speakers on... Try it and see if it works for you.

Interesting debate

[Dyolf Knip]

I was rather appalled at Valenti's performance. If I hadn't thought he was a schmuck before, I certainly would now. I can't believe his lawyers let him do something like this; they'd have to know that real people (ie, not lawyers or recording execs) would be shocked at the stuff that is going on.

For those who haven't seen all 90 minutes of it, here's some of the high points:

The wierdest thing was his argument about how simply because Congress has the power to make far-reaching and restrictive copyright laws anything they do is certain to be just and proper. A real 'might makes right' argument, right down to the "The EU is doing it too, so it must be correct".

Then there was Lessig's response to "How does overprotective copyright inhibit creativity?" (a parallel novel to Gone With the Wind, The Wind Done Gone, was hit with an injunction immediately after publication) which Valenti dismissed a trivial example. I really wonder what universe he lives in where having to pay $150,000 in legal fees just to write a book is 'trivial'. He also completely ignored the DMCA horror stories (Aibo hacking, Felton, Dmitri, and DeCSS) Lessig put forth.

Oh yeah, and Valenti actually claims that he's been proven correct in regards to his 1982 statement to the court about the VCR being the death of the entertainment industry. "We're losing $3 billion every year to pirated cassettes!". This guy just cracks me up.

Debate now online

[mpawlo]

The debate between Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, and Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law Professor and author of The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World is now online.

The Debate was named Creativity, Commerce, & Culture: Lessig vs. Valenti and occured on November 29, 2001 at USC Annenberg School.

Watch the archived webcast (1.35 h) with Real Video under: http://annenberg.usc.edu/events/011129LessigValent i/debate.smil [usc.edu]

Best regards

Mikael