Lessig's Historical Analysis

Lawrence Lessig argues that from a historical perspective that the fusion between past and present is actually not that different. This is interesting considering that during the early 20th century wealth was a completely different concept. There was a lot of "old" money based on family wealth rather than "new money" that came from individuals who worked hard and got lucky. This idea is important to discuss because it really helps to explain some of the driving forces behind United States copyright protections. In the early 20th century the matter was less about money and more about principle wheras today the record companies and artists only care about getting paid. This transformation from a society that focuses on principle to one that focuses on mass exploitation is not surprising considering what we know money can do to people, but you would think that in a Representative Democracy that we would be able to minimize the negative affects of those exploiters. This is not what has been happening though. Presently, record companies post larger and larger profits while people like Stephanie Lenz are driven into poverty and criminality. It follows then that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As long as these fat-cats continue to exploit mass amounts of people I am going to continue to do everything I can from contributing any money whatsoever to them. Why? Because like the people in the early 20th century thought, it is the principle of the matter.