Query:   Considering the Preface and Introduction to the book, what do you understand to be Lessig’s central focus or claims?  

Query:   In the section of the book entitled “Piracy,” Lessig concentrates on the modern understanding of the concept, how that understanding is belied by the history of “piracy” in media, what forms of “true piracy, pure and simple,” are appropriately regulated, and what forms of “piracy” may well call for a more tolerant and nuanced governmental approach to ensure the greater social and cultural welfare.  What are the most important arguments, in your view, by which Lessig makes his case for “good piracy” which should be deemed legal?  What do you think of these arguments?

Query:   In the section of the book entitled “Property,” Lessig examines the claims of the “copyright warriors” that copyrighted material is property and should be protected by the federal government against current copyright violations over the Internet.  He asserts that such claims need to be evaluated in light of several relevant changes: changes in the law of intellectual property, changes in technology, and changes in media concentration.  And he argues, taken together, those changes challenge the claims of the “copyright warriors,” because of an “astonishing conclusion: Never in our history have fewer had a legal right to control more of the development of our culture than now.” (170)  What are the changes in law, technology, and media that Lessig finds so telling? 

Query:   Why should the changes in law, technology, and media, taken together, challenge the claims of the “copyright warriors” to increased legal protection of their intellectual property interests?  In other words, why does Lessig urge us to consider the redefinition of intellectual property rights?