Lawrence Lessig on Open Access, Copyright and the nasty Conyers bill

John Conyers and Open Access:

Pushed by scientists everywhere, the NIH and other government agencies were increasingly exploring this obviously better model for spreading knowledge. Proprietary publishers, however, didn't like it. And so rather than competing in the traditional way, they've adopted the increasingly Washington way of competition -- they've gone to Congress to get a law to ban the business model they don't like. If H.R. 801 is passed, the government can't even experiment with supporting publishing models that assure that the people who have paid for the research can actually access it. Instead, if Conyers has his way, we'll pay for the research twice.

The insanity in this proposal is brilliantly described by Jamie Boyle in this piece in the FT. But after you read his peace, you'll be even more puzzled by this. For what possible reason could Conyers have for supporting a bill that 33 Nobel Prize Winners, and the current and former heads of the NIH say will actually hurt scientific research in America? More pointedly, what possible reason would a man from a district that insists on the government "Buying American" have for supporting a bill that basically subsidizes foreign publishers (for the biggest players in this publishing market are non-American firms, making HR 801 a kind of "Foreign Publishers Protection Act")?

Well no one can know what goes on the heart or mind of Congressman Conyers. But what we do know is what MAPLight.org published yesterday: That the co-sponsors of this bill who sit on the Judiciary Committee received on average two-times the amount of money from publishing interests as those who haven't co-sponsored the bill.

Lawrence Lessig Answers Your Questions on Copyright, Corruption, and Congress:

A decade's work against IP extremism taught me two things: first, that people -- teachers, parents, archivists, entrepreneurs, and many many artists -- recognized the insanity in the current war; and second, that members of Congress didn't even understand the issue. Some say that's because they're clueless. I don't think that's right. Instead, I believe Congress doesn't get it because it cares less about making sense of copyright policy and more about raising dollars for political campaigns. When you recognize (as it took me way too long to recognize) that this is the same in a wide range of public policy contexts, including some of the most important (e.g., global warming), you realize the root cause here -- corruption -- is the problem that has to be addressed.

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I think the big story that the press doesn't cover well is just how ordinary the corruption of government is. The serious problem, in my view, is not members using government to feather their own nests (though as one member put it to me, Congress has become a "farm league for K St.," which is extremely serious). The most serious problem is instead good people living in a corrupt system. In my view, these "good people" have a moral obligation to change this corrupt system. They have a moral obligation to take a stand against it. We have seen enough to see just how much harm this system is producing. To stand by and let it continue -- indeed, to encourage it to continue in its current form -- is an act of extraordinary cowardice.

Lessig is urging people to take action here -- joining his reform organization's 'donor strike' to pressure Congress to fix the underlying corrupt system that resulted in Conyers doing what he did. After you sign, they'll email you a number to call your representative in Congress (and Conyers) about this specific bill.