[00:13.860 --> 00:16.260] What's your name? [00:18.460 --> 00:19.260] It's a pleasure to meet you. [00:19.300 --> 00:20.200] Are you a New Yorker? [00:20.540 --> 00:21.520] Yes, East Village. [00:21.820 --> 00:22.240] Oh, excellent. [00:22.980 --> 00:24.120] Great city in the world. [00:26.040 --> 00:32.980] My first question is, as an award-winning author, columnist, and journalist, you certainly know something about copyrights. [00:33.060 --> 00:36.440] How do you feel about the protection of intellectual property, such as music? [00:36.840 --> 00:38.760] Are all copyrights created equal? [00:40.640 --> 00:42.240] I think that's a really good question. [00:42.380 --> 00:44.060] I think it can unpack in more than one way. [00:44.280 --> 00:50.540] So, the first is, like, are all... are copyrights in all domains the same? [00:50.660 --> 00:53.560] And I think that there's certainly, like, different characteristics they have. [00:53.660 --> 01:04.580] Like, I've always thought that the insistence that books should be subject to the same rules as, like, movies or video games is kind of a self-limiting move. [01:04.720 --> 01:07.720] Like, we have this weird relationship with books that's really romantic. [01:08.360 --> 01:12.180] Like, we... like, we've had them for longer than we've had copyright. [01:12.460 --> 01:14.640] We've had them for longer than we've had money. [01:15.220 --> 01:18.420] We've had them for a lot longer than we've had printing, or even paper, right? [01:18.820 --> 01:22.320] And so, you know, getting rid of books, it's like... it's a tough thing. [01:22.440 --> 01:28.040] Like, people have this... like, if you want to show a civilization in decline in your student movie, just show, like, a pile of books on fire. [01:28.040 --> 01:30.160] And so, people have this, like, romantic attachment. [01:30.280 --> 01:31.820] I think that's really good for the publishing industry. [01:31.960 --> 01:35.280] I think people buy books just as, like, status objects or aspirational objects. [01:35.500 --> 01:37.840] They fill their bookcases to show who they are. [01:38.000 --> 01:43.000] You know, there's a reason, like, you know, writers are always photographed against a wall of someone else's books. [01:43.120 --> 01:44.220] You know, this is who I am. [01:44.480 --> 01:50.120] And so, once we say, oh, well, it's just an article of commerce, and the most important thing of it is, like, that it's regulatory regime. [01:50.480 --> 02:04.120] Then, I think we... especially, like, with e-books, where we say, oh, you know, all those traditional contours you had with books, like, the right to sell it, or give it away, or whatever, all those are, like, no longer around because it's an e-book, and you click through an agreement, [02:04.120 --> 02:06.300] and that agreement is, you know, regulated by copyright. [02:07.120 --> 02:10.700] Like, the most dangerous thing I can imagine is people believing you, right? [02:10.800 --> 02:15.400] Because then it's like, oh, you know, it turns out that books are just, like, candy bars. [02:15.620 --> 02:16.860] Like, who cares if we throw them away? [02:16.900 --> 02:18.500] We don't need to buy them aspirationally. [02:18.500 --> 02:22.160] And that would be, like, a complete disaster for the publishing industry. [02:22.400 --> 02:23.460] So that's part of it. [02:23.620 --> 02:25.420] And then... so I don't think they're all equivalent. [02:25.560 --> 02:30.840] Like, I think crossword puzzles, and t-shirt designs, and books are different. [02:31.140 --> 02:36.480] And, like, obviously different, and also beneficially different to each of those industries. [02:36.680 --> 02:40.080] And then the other piece is, like, who does copyright apply to, and what's it for? [02:40.580 --> 02:47.900] And I think that copyright, if you look at its history, has always been conceived of and executed as an industrial regulation. [02:47.900 --> 02:52.160] We said to, like, the industry, what do you do with books? [02:52.240 --> 02:54.500] How do you decide what's fair and what's not fair? [02:54.660 --> 02:56.680] And then we've taken that and made it into a law. [02:57.020 --> 02:59.360] And industrial regulation is cool. [02:59.520 --> 03:00.200] I think that's great. [03:00.740 --> 03:03.080] Like, I wish the finance industry was regulated. [03:03.240 --> 03:03.880] Wouldn't that be awesome? [03:05.500 --> 03:11.720] But the test that we use to figure out whether you're in the industry varies from regulation to regulation. [03:11.720 --> 03:14.040] Because you can't just apply industrial regulation to everyone, right? [03:14.160 --> 03:20.000] Like, so, you know, with copyright, it was like, if you're making or handling a copy, you're in the entertainment industry. [03:20.140 --> 03:23.620] Because, like, a book has a printing press in its history, and a movie has a film lab. [03:23.760 --> 03:27.360] And, you know, you can't just, like, make a copy of a book in your kitchen. [03:27.620 --> 03:30.440] You know, it's an industrial activity. [03:30.540 --> 03:31.060] That's not... [03:31.640 --> 03:34.980] And, I'm sorry, this is a hard... it's a question that has a big answer. [03:35.960 --> 03:44.720] And the... and so the... what's happened is that, like, copying has become, like, subject to a kind of hyperinflation. [03:44.840 --> 03:47.800] It's no longer a good mark of whether or not you're in the entertainment industry. [03:48.540 --> 03:50.780] It's now a thing that we do a million times before breakfast. [03:50.840 --> 03:52.680] Because, like, the Internet works by making copies. [03:53.480 --> 03:56.100] And, you know, you can imagine, like, we had hyperinflation. [03:56.260 --> 03:58.880] And suddenly it cost a million dollars to buy a friend lunch, right? [03:58.900 --> 04:00.700] Like, buying a sandwich wouldn't make you a bank. [04:01.200 --> 04:04.160] And, like, using the Internet doesn't make you a publisher. [04:04.160 --> 04:12.160] And the idea is that, like, in order to use copyright, or to use the Internet, you have to understand copyright, then we fail. [04:12.260 --> 04:15.060] Because, like, most people don't understand copyright. [04:15.160 --> 04:16.020] Most people never will. [04:16.260 --> 04:23.080] The problem with, like, kids using the Internet is not that kids have failed to get a four-year law degree and a three-year specialization in copyright. [04:23.300 --> 04:27.820] It's that copyright, like, we've decided that kids have to be experts in that stuff to use it. [04:27.840 --> 04:28.420] And they never will. [04:28.420 --> 04:41.200] There's no rule that is, on the one hand, like, complex and technical enough that you can use it to, you know, for Warner and Universal to license the Harry Potter copyrights to make a Harry Potter theme park. [04:41.360 --> 04:47.100] And simple enough that, like, a kid in her mom's basement in Yonkers can use it to make a Harry Potter fan site without breaking the law. [04:48.260 --> 04:48.700] Okay. [04:50.120 --> 04:55.420] So, anonymity is an increasingly controversial topic since the rising of the Tor network. [04:55.720 --> 04:58.620] Do you think anonymity on the web should always be protected? [04:58.940 --> 05:00.020] If so, why? [05:01.180 --> 05:03.800] Well, I think that, in the U.S. [05:04.000 --> 05:06.100] Constitutional tradition, there's, like, good reasons to support... [05:06.100 --> 05:10.460] I'm conscious that we're running out of time here, and that's another good, gnarly question. [05:11.440 --> 05:15.720] I think that, in the context of the U.S. [05:16.180 --> 05:21.740] Constitution, the idea of anonymity has been protected, not because it's good, but because it's better than the alternative. [05:22.060 --> 05:24.460] That there are things that you can only say when you're anonymous. [05:25.600 --> 05:37.500] And if we think about the history of social change in our world, in our, like, living memory, there are people alive today who remember when it was illegal for a black person and a white person to marry, or when it was illegal to be gay. [05:38.420 --> 05:41.120] You're alive today, and you remember when it's illegal to smoke weed? [05:41.120 --> 05:44.520] It will probably not be illegal to smoke weed by the time you're old enough to, right? [05:44.520 --> 06:02.980] And the way that we got there is that people were able to decide the time and manner of the disclosure about their activity to other people in such a way that we were able to create a normative conversation between us about what was right and what was wrong, [06:03.060 --> 06:04.640] whether rules were fair or unfair. [06:05.100 --> 06:21.980] And unless you think that, like, now in 2016 we got it right, like there's no more rules that need to change, then, and, you know, like, in 50 years your grandchildren will say, Grandpa, how was it that in 2016 you solved the social contract and we haven't had to make any changes in our social rules? [06:22.120 --> 06:32.620] Then you have to believe that there's, like, people that you love and know and care about who are today living in shame and who are not able to do something that's important to them. [06:32.620 --> 06:42.760] And the only way they can recover from that and improve their lives is they can choose the moment at which they disclose their alliance, their activity, their condition. [06:43.700 --> 06:47.860] And if we don't have the opportunity to be anonymous, then they can't choose that. [06:48.020 --> 06:51.920] And then all of those people that you love and care about will lose that opportunity. [06:53.000 --> 06:54.040] Can we go for one more, if you want? [06:54.200 --> 06:54.900] It's up to you, Cory. [06:55.260 --> 06:55.600] Sure. [06:55.940 --> 07:01.140] So, you certainly play a huge role in the free software movement and technology community as a whole. [07:01.140 --> 07:04.620] What interests you about technology and what motivates you to be a part of it? [07:05.260 --> 07:16.880] Well, I think that, you know, there's, like, the seductive promise that you can have deterministic machines where you can, like, say to them, you must do X and Y and Z in this order, and they'll do it perfectly. [07:17.020 --> 07:20.800] Of course, anyone who's written software knows that it never works that way, but it feels like it must. [07:21.040 --> 07:23.000] And there's something very exciting about it. [07:23.100 --> 07:25.160] It's always a really interesting intellectual challenge. [07:25.160 --> 07:30.460] And then, you know, the amazing thing, like I said in the talk before about new facts on the ground, right? [07:30.520 --> 07:32.800] The fact that we can encrypt things, that's a new fact on the ground. [07:33.060 --> 07:34.740] Sorry, I thought I might have left my phone up there. [07:34.900 --> 07:41.220] And then, but we have another new fact on the ground, which is that we can make a universal machine, right? [07:41.220 --> 07:42.660] This was a thing we never could do before. [07:42.820 --> 07:49.000] Before, like, Turing and von Neumann, if you wanted to tabulate an election, you built an election tabulating calculator. [07:49.000 --> 07:53.000] And if you wanted to calculate ballistic tables, you built a ballistic tabulating calculator. [07:53.260 --> 07:58.200] You wouldn't, like, just sort of retrofit one onto the other any more than you would, like, oh, we need to go underwater. [07:58.220 --> 08:00.520] Why don't we seal up this car and turn it into a submarine? [08:00.840 --> 08:03.840] But we have these new universal architectures, right? [08:03.880 --> 08:08.720] Where we can build a computer that can run every program we can express in symbolic logic. [08:09.040 --> 08:14.940] And this is amazing and, like, even problematic because now we have, like, printers that can run malware. [08:14.940 --> 08:25.440] But what's amazing about this is if you improve a computer to make your heart monitor better, you improve a computer that will make cars better and refrigerators and angry birds. [08:25.920 --> 08:33.180] And so now we have this thing where everything that anyone does to improve any part of human endeavor makes all parts of human endeavor better. [08:33.480 --> 08:36.900] And so, like, what more exciting thing could we be interested in? [08:38.400 --> 08:39.600] All right, thank you. [08:39.760 --> 08:42.560] So on the screen over there we have our other interviewer. [08:42.560 --> 08:42.880] Nice to meet you. [08:43.720 --> 08:44.600] Nice to meet you. [08:44.600 --> 08:44.940] How are you? [08:45.720 --> 08:46.740] Can you hear me, Cory? [08:46.900 --> 08:47.680] I can hear you just fine. [08:47.740 --> 08:48.120] Can you hear me? [08:48.820 --> 08:49.700] Yeah, I can hear you. [08:49.820 --> 08:50.740] So I guess we should get started. [08:50.900 --> 08:51.180] Excellent. [08:51.920 --> 08:57.970] So I wanted to say hello to my name is Daniel Julio DeVinguez. [08:58.050 --> 08:58.950] I go by Julio. [08:59.130 --> 08:59.610] Hi Julio. [09:00.270 --> 09:04.550] I'm going to use my time in a way that's a bit unorthodox today, so please bear with me. [09:04.730 --> 09:08.750] I'd like to begin by congratulating Cameron Glass, the other contest winner. [09:08.970 --> 09:10.510] I really liked your article, Cameron. [09:10.890 --> 09:13.630] Snowden is a hero of mine, too, and his actions inspire me. [09:13.770 --> 09:15.730] So good job, brother, and keep on working hard. [09:16.910 --> 09:17.210] Okay. [09:18.150 --> 09:19.350] He's giving you one of those. [09:20.570 --> 09:21.010] Againic. [09:21.850 --> 09:22.130] Okay. [09:22.390 --> 09:27.910] Now I'm going to give a short speech because I want to use my five minutes to address the world because you don't often get the chance. [09:28.170 --> 09:28.410] Okay. [09:28.410 --> 09:29.850] Now, I recall the Matrix. [09:30.210 --> 09:32.770] And I think I found Neo passed out on his keyboard. [09:33.030 --> 09:36.510] And I can't help but imagine Trinity typing, wake up, America. [09:36.750 --> 09:37.830] The illusion has you. [09:38.110 --> 09:39.630] Listen to me for a little bit, please. [09:39.850 --> 09:43.310] The gravity of our ongoing situation is tremendous and we must speak about it. [09:43.310 --> 09:53.250] I have a degree in environmental science from a state university, but I shouldn't be the first to tell you that having leaped from the precipice, humanity is careening towards real self-destruction. [09:53.930 --> 09:59.990] By now, we have manufactured and amassed nuclear arms all over the world, enough to blow the earth as we know it to smithereen. [10:00.130 --> 10:04.990] And in this same world, we are suffering morally and physically at the hands of human pollution and discovery. [10:04.990 --> 10:09.690] This is a world in which we aren't as safe or secure or as exceptional as we have come to believe. [10:10.350 --> 10:15.450] That idea, American exceptionalism, is a suffering, miserable, and absurd idea. [10:15.850 --> 10:16.990] You need only look around. [10:17.270 --> 10:20.350] Last week was shot through with lies, opulence, and broken people. [10:20.570 --> 10:22.290] And next week will be nothing but the same. [10:22.670 --> 10:25.150] The tension that we are living through is at a breaking point. [10:25.650 --> 10:30.310] The economic system is failing and our rights and our dignity as human beings is being crippled. [10:30.310 --> 10:36.330] Our governments around the world, no matter what happens this year, have dropped the proverbial ball. [10:36.510 --> 10:39.210] And in this case, that's the oblique steroid we call home. [10:39.570 --> 10:41.550] But we must not succumb to the malaise. [10:41.930 --> 10:46.370] Humans on planet earth, my message today is that we can make peace more than just a notion. [10:46.590 --> 10:48.350] We can reject radical nationalism. [10:48.630 --> 10:50.070] We can reject privateerities. [10:50.270 --> 10:52.110] We can reject the current capitalist regime. [10:52.670 --> 10:55.790] Humanity, I implore you to love one another or perish. [10:56.450 --> 10:57.350] Peace is possible. [10:57.350 --> 10:59.750] And if you haven't heard, black lives matter. [11:00.010 --> 11:01.630] The Latino X movement matters. [11:01.850 --> 11:02.630] Feminism matters. [11:02.830 --> 11:04.530] The LGBTQ community matters. [11:04.770 --> 11:07.430] And all poor and working people of the world matter. [11:08.250 --> 11:14.210] Now today, our nation's flag stands as a hip hypocrisy, or it stands for hypocrisy, brutality, and the elite. [11:14.430 --> 11:20.890] So I'm going to burn one as a peaceful protest against hate and war, standing instead for love, peace, and of course, hope. [11:22.850 --> 11:23.470] All right. [11:23.470 --> 11:23.870] Oh, the... [11:23.870 --> 11:24.210] Okay. [11:25.130 --> 11:25.910] All right. [11:26.090 --> 11:28.690] I was going to say, I saw a smoke detector behind you. [11:29.130 --> 11:29.790] All right. [11:32.790 --> 11:33.410] What's... [11:33.410 --> 11:34.370] He's burning a flag. [11:34.810 --> 11:35.090] What? [11:35.490 --> 11:36.010] Oh, my. [11:36.510 --> 11:36.850] Wow. [11:37.030 --> 11:37.450] Oh. [11:37.770 --> 11:38.330] That's intense. [11:40.430 --> 11:41.190] All right. [11:41.190 --> 11:41.230] No? [11:41.970 --> 11:42.330] No? [11:42.570 --> 11:44.150] I thought these are recording, isn't it? [11:44.930 --> 11:45.190] Yeah. [11:45.470 --> 11:45.590] Yeah. [11:47.230 --> 11:47.550] Oh. [11:47.970 --> 11:48.910] That's unexpected. [11:55.250 --> 11:57.450] It's taking longer than he thought it would, I think. [11:58.890 --> 12:02.490] From anyone who's ever tried to burn a flag, those plastic ones don't want to go out. [12:02.630 --> 12:03.310] Oh, here it goes. [12:03.890 --> 12:06.650] And there's two minutes left of the fire, so... [12:11.150 --> 12:12.030] It's going out. [12:14.610 --> 12:15.410] No kerosene. [12:15.830 --> 12:17.710] It's the kind of thing you want to practice possibly. [12:18.610 --> 12:18.670] Yeah. [12:20.390 --> 12:21.010] There it goes. [12:21.030 --> 12:21.950] It's flame retardant. [12:23.050 --> 12:23.970] They are now. [12:24.150 --> 12:26.250] They actually do put a flame retardant. [12:26.370 --> 12:27.850] It's both inflammable and flammable. [12:29.090 --> 12:30.310] What do you think about that, Cory? [12:30.410 --> 12:30.870] Even though that's... [12:30.870 --> 12:31.550] Well, I... [12:31.550 --> 12:37.490] As not an American, the flag has never really meant much to me, and I'm not much of a flag person, so... [12:38.130 --> 12:38.430] Sure. [12:38.430 --> 12:41.510] I think as a form of protected speech, that feels completely illegitimate. [12:42.410 --> 12:43.130] It is. [12:43.290 --> 12:43.370] Okay. [12:44.190 --> 12:44.630] All right. [12:44.790 --> 12:45.730] Well, that's all I have to say. [12:45.870 --> 12:46.250] All right. [12:46.290 --> 12:47.050] Thank you, Julio. [12:47.250 --> 12:47.910] Do you have any questions? [12:48.030 --> 12:49.170] Do you have any questions or anything? [12:50.130 --> 12:52.250] I mean, I pretty much agree with everything. [12:52.350 --> 12:58.190] I'm not an American, so the flag doesn't mean much to me, but I support your right to... [12:58.190 --> 13:01.850] That feels to me like a form of total illegitimate expressive speech, so... [13:01.850 --> 13:02.570] Completely First Amendment. [13:02.810 --> 13:05.930] Well, it's protected by the Supreme Court, and it's been... [13:05.930 --> 13:07.510] It's been protected twice now, so... [13:07.510 --> 13:08.230] I agree. [13:08.430 --> 13:16.770] But I also think I priori the idea that burning a flag feels like the most obviously symbolic form of expressive speech you can imagine. [13:17.370 --> 13:17.750] Yeah. [13:17.930 --> 13:18.230] Exactly. [13:19.050 --> 13:20.390] I can't imagine... [13:20.390 --> 13:20.910] I can ask you one question. [13:21.030 --> 13:21.210] Sure. [13:21.310 --> 13:23.510] I have one that I was going to ask originally, but... [13:23.510 --> 13:23.790] Okay. [13:24.230 --> 13:24.450] Shoot. [13:29.210 --> 13:30.330] Noam Chomsky... [13:30.330 --> 13:34.270] I have one that made a controversial statement about voting in this current election. [13:34.530 --> 13:35.460] He said that... [13:35.870 --> 13:47.070] Or he suggested that in swing states, like where I am, Florida, voting for anybody other than Hillary Clinton, essentially, the Democratic candidate, is a vote for the Republicans. [13:47.490 --> 13:49.710] How do you feel about this assessment? [13:49.710 --> 13:52.230] So, I don't get a vote, dirty foreigner. [13:54.070 --> 13:58.970] But, I give money to Bernie, and I will probably give money to Hillary. [13:59.710 --> 14:01.030] And the reason... [14:01.030 --> 14:04.910] Because foreigners can give money to your candidates, they just can't vote for them. [14:06.030 --> 14:11.710] And the reason I'm going to do it is because my understanding, having lived on and off in the U.S. [14:11.770 --> 14:23.290] for a couple of decades now, is that the administrative branch is where the rubber meets the road for the daily lives of people in extremely profound ways. [14:23.630 --> 14:26.670] And it's like the elephant in the room, right? [14:26.790 --> 14:34.010] And so, like, it may be that you can hardly get a credit card between Al Gore and GW's policy prescriptions. [14:34.390 --> 14:43.630] But when Al Gore didn't take office, and GW did, he appointed 40,000 civil servants, top level civil servants, who were all party hardliners, right? [14:43.710 --> 14:49.990] Like, the people who get elected are in the middle, the people who get patronage appointments are on the extreme, right? [14:50.070 --> 15:08.690] And if you want to think about what the 40,000 people who are going to be running the military, the cops, the welfare regime, the environmental protection agency, who are going to be doing labor abuse investigations, who are going to be running the CDC in an era of Zika and mass pandemic and climate change, [15:08.810 --> 15:10.070] who are going to be running FEMA. [15:10.510 --> 15:14.430] Like, we saw what happens when you take a stablemaster and put him in charge of FEMA, right? [15:14.730 --> 15:22.650] Like, these are like, these are legitimate, real, no-fooling, immediate, utilitarian, instrumental differences between the candidates. [15:22.650 --> 15:28.870] And the next four years could be, like, a Hieronymus Bosch painting. [15:29.110 --> 15:47.030] Because, as establishment as the establishment wing of the Dems are, and holy shit are they establishment, they at least will appoint people who are moderately competent to do those jobs, and who aren't, you know, purely, like, creatures of political patronage and corruption. [15:47.030 --> 15:52.610] They will actually show up for work and do their goddamn jobs, and hire people who know what they're doing. [15:53.070 --> 16:05.430] And some of the things they do will be bad, but it will be bad because they choose to do something bad, not because they were off, like, you know, getting a Reiki massage while the floods were, you know, while the floods were overtopping the levees in New Orleans. [16:05.590 --> 16:07.130] That makes a huge difference. [16:07.370 --> 16:09.690] And I think that, like, if we're going to live to fight another day... [16:09.690 --> 16:10.210] You know, I agree. [16:10.330 --> 16:13.450] Like, the reason I fight to free the Internet isn't because information wants to be free. [16:13.490 --> 16:14.630] It gives a shit about information. [16:14.630 --> 16:15.350] It's a distraction. [16:15.650 --> 16:25.910] I fight about the Internet because every single fight we're going to have about gender equality and the environment and nuclear proliferation, every one of those issues is going to be won or lost on the Internet. [16:26.090 --> 16:27.290] That's why the Internet matters. [16:27.470 --> 16:41.970] And if we're going to have a playing field on which we can fight these battles in four years, then we're going to need to have people who are borderline competent running the administration, administering the country, because it's a big, complicated machine. [16:41.970 --> 16:46.290] So, if I had a vote, it does matter because I live in California, so we're going to elect Democrats. [16:46.470 --> 16:57.610] If I had a vote, I would vote for a Democrat in this election because Trump is a different kind of dumpster fire to all the dumpster fires we've had. [16:59.550 --> 17:00.370] That's what I think. [17:01.050 --> 17:03.450] I think that was a wonderful analysis. [17:03.450 --> 17:04.530] I really appreciate it. [17:05.510 --> 17:05.970] Thank you. [17:06.070 --> 17:06.350] Thank you. [17:06.710 --> 17:07.230] Thank you. [17:07.230 --> 17:07.510] Thank you. [17:07.510 --> 17:08.170] Thank you guys so much. [17:08.550 --> 17:08.810] Thanks. [17:10.810 --> 17:13.130] I was going to say, I can see the smoke alarm behind you. [17:13.170 --> 17:16.230] When you said you were going to light a flag, I thought there was going to be a problem immediately. [17:17.890 --> 17:19.670] I'm sitting in front of my front door is over. [17:19.930 --> 17:20.270] All right. [17:20.370 --> 17:20.630] Good. [17:20.790 --> 17:21.790] Nice to talk to you, Julio. [17:22.330 --> 17:22.850] Nice to talk to you. [17:22.850 --> 17:23.570] Take care of yourself. [17:25.950 --> 17:26.850] Wow, that was... [17:26.850 --> 17:27.010] Alrighty. [17:27.010 --> 17:27.270] All righty.