Code

by Lawrence Lessig

Read for my Internet Policy class, Fall 2004.

This book argues that the libertarian origins of the Internet (anti-Big Brother and all) created a state where the private sector has more power in that arena than the government. Which wouldn't be too bad, except it's not as transparent (or at least, not required to be) as government entities are... So he argues that the code that programmers write is becoming as important as the laws that legislators write, in terms of defining options about what will exist for the future of technology.

It's an interesting arguement. Not sure that I buy it completely, but good food for thought. It's hard to think of code as an immutatble force (one protected by proprietary agreements), but it does frame the debate about who should control the Internet in a new way (at least for me).