Lessig is coherent with previous week's reading on Webster, in that he asserts that the cyberspace (which is easily regarded as the literal symbol of the information age) is not a completely new and optimistic thing. Here he focuses on the fact that the cyberspace can be regulated just as much as, and even far more than the previous real world. technology(architecture), markets, laws and norms in combination limit and guide people's behaviour and the system itself. At the same time, markets, laws and norms decide the architecture, in the form of 'codes'. And it requires a lot of active actions to deepen the liberal aspects of the Net, and he proposes it can be done by opening the "Code".
I couldn't agree more with Lessig's point that the cyberspace is the result of regulation, weighted among the players and institutions of the various sectors (I wonder what views Lessig holds on the mess that is ICANN ). And I also admire his continuous efforts on Creative Commons, to achieve what he has manifested. However, his concepts of a liberal cyberspace only works when there is already an established liberal social system or norm. For example, one can't expect to have freedom of expression on the Internet, in a society where freedom of expression is not granted in the offline world... I mean, look at the Internet in mainland China. Ideally, the liberal nature of the cyberspace will drip down to make the real world liberal as well, but normally it is the other way around. Even the concepts of Creative Commons or Copyleft only work in societies where Copyright laws are firmly established. I wished that Lessig would talk more about how to modify the larger structures of the 'East Coast Code' of the offline world, so as to make permanent progress feasible.
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