Lessig vs. Carr

Lawrence Lessig writes about the new ethics and make-up of 2.0 companies, and Nick Carr doesn't like it calling it 2.0lier than thou.

Lessig: It may hide its true nature behind a seductive mask of coolness, but make no mistake: YouTube is an imposter. It has failed to respect the ethics of the web. By contrast, every other major Web 2.0 company does expressly enable true sharing.

Carr: The companies that Lessig uses to support this incredible statement are Flickr, blip.tv, EyeSpot, Revver, and "even Google." Blip.tv? EyeSpot? Revver? These are "major Web 2.0 companies"? What about MySpace? What about Facebook? What about Digg? What about Craigslist? What about Google's vast search business? Do any of these "expressly enable true sharing" of their core content? No, Lessig's audacious attempt at revisionism just doesn't fly.

In fact, Carr not only disagrees, he thinks Lessig has an ulterior motive for writing about it in the first place:

He wants to redefine "Web 2.0" in order to promote a particular ideology, the ideology of digital communalism in which private property becomes common property and the individual interest is subsumed into the public interest - in which we become the web and the web becomes us.

Makes some sense, especially given Lessig's Common Content project. (I'm a big fan of Common Content, btw, and this site carries its license.)

Carr's post raises some very valid points and merits a response from Lessig. Hope Larry has some time to reply.

And speaking of 2.0lier than thou ... The following is from Neville Hobson's post about the launch of Crayon, the consulting business that he's launching with Joseph Jaffe, Shel Holtz, and CC Chapman:

We’re a solution provider. We’re an extension of your team. Consider us a new breed of partner – one that keeps everyone honest and on the right path. Our client is not the consumer: our client is the truth.

Our client is the truth? Wow. That's mighty high and mighty of them, now isn't it. Guess they won't be working for Wal-Mart any time soon, so it can't be all that bad.


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