Prof Lessig adresses ISOC South Africa.
Yesterday evening Prof Larry Lessig, well known author, legal scholar and founder of Creative Commons spoke to the South African branch of the Internet Society. The venue, ironically, was a monument to old media, the SABC auditorium in Sea Point.
His message was simple. Policy makers often don’t understand technology well. Technologists are often frustrated with the policy making process, often regard it as unrelated to the real world.
According to Prof Lessig ten years after law and ICT’s first began their complex interaction we’ve learned certain things.
We know that code is law.
We know that bad law can sometimes take away the benefits of good code.
But we are learning something new;
We are learning that good law can often reduce bad code…
and that good law which affects code, requires coders to get involved in making law.
Inevitably for such a forum in South Africa, the issue of connectivity, was raised.
In answer to a question what could be done about broadband access in South Africa Prof Lessig pointed out that South Africa can look at any number of models of how to introduce regulated competition which massively increases roll-out and decreases prices. This is not, he said, one of the difficult questions, its not an intellectual challenge. It is obvious. What is required is simply the political will to do what needs to be done.
No-one disagreed.
