Lessig goes into exploring how there are two economies. There is commercial and sharing economy. This is interesting because I never thought about how there are two ways to receive and get items. Commercial economy is where someone would receive an item by paying for it. The exchange for an item for money, this is easy to grasp because I do this everyday. However, sharing is quite different. You could receive something by just your word, or a “promise”.
As I read on Lessig explains how the Internet is becoming a blend of both. For example Amazon, it not only asks something of its users it also is sharing. However, Google does not ask anything of there users and gives something to them. A cool thing I hadn’t thought of was that Google keeps your searches on hand. So Google is giving a service to it’s users. Amazon does the same thing by suggesting things you may like by what you search and buy. The Internet now gives people something they can’t find anywhere else. I was thinking about why I don’t shop in real life but do most of my shopping online. Because it gives me as a buyer something stores can’t. It remembers me. This isn’t true for all sites though, but for Amazon it suggests things I would like—and yes I usually do like them. Overall Lessig is explaining how these two economies are blended on the Internet and in essence creating something entirely new.
Good job explaining both, however think a bit more about why this distinction matters to his argument. Why, in a book on copyright and remix, would he spend so much time on economies? What's the selling point? What's the rhetorical heft?
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