John Siewert

The main idea of the introduction is how problems can arise with property and rights when society is introduced to new technology. Lessig beautifully illustrates this by telling a series of short stories. The main characters are the spawners of ideas, the protagonists, and those that want to squash the freedom and spread of information, the antagonists. The first story is about the Causby's fruitless efforts to defend the airspace above their property from the military's superior 'chicken killin' war machine. The Causbys lost because the judge decided the old law was not suited for modern times. Sometimes society pays a greater toll than a few chickens, as in the story of Armstrong and his F.M. technology. Not only was the FM radio held back in the interest of corporation governance, but a man was destroyed in the process. These stories show how laws and rules change and evolve to keep up with the ever growing diverse plains of property and privacy. Lessig's main point: the laws need to keep up with the times, and should be resolved in the best interest of common sense, not in the interests of corporate shareholders.