Eric Goldman has a nice brief review of Judge Alex Kozinski (of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, author of the “Barbie Girl” opinion) and Josh Goldfoot’s recent article A Declaration of the Dependence of Cyberspace, which is obviously a jab at the Barlow piece in the assigned readings for Thursday.
Goldman does a good job of staking out some middle ground between the two positions, reminding us that in some ways, because of the statutes Congress has passed, the internet is now special as a matter of law, whether or not it actually is as a matter of fact. His argument that innovation may be most fruitful in the gray areas between legality and illegality is also worth keeping in mind throughout the rest of the course, as we consider the potential gaps between who is guilty of copyright infringement and who ought to be.
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