Is Someone Playing A Joke? Why Would Penguin Force Colbert To Take Down Lessig's Remix?

from the something's-not-right dept

Last night, Larry Lessig went on The Colbert Report to talk up his latest book Remix. While I think Remix is an important book and Lessig is a brilliant commentator on these issues, I was a little disappointed by the performance, but I'm willing to chalk it up to the fact that appearing opposite Colbert is incredibly difficult (almost impossible), and Colbert is the best at throwing interviewees off their game.

Of course, pretty much everything Colbert does is satire, and included in the video was the joking suggestion that no one take the video and remix it. Colbert, of course, has been one of the champions of getting folks to remix videos for him. So, obviously, the idea was to get more folks to remix.

However, just a little while ago, some folks started noticing a message at the top of Colbertnation.com saying:

Lawrence Lessig's REMIX has been removed at the request of Penguin Publishers.

At this point, it's unclear what exactly has been removed. The video of the interview is still online, so that's not what's been removed. Some are wondering if Colbert originally posted a downloadable copy of the book itself that has been removed. Many folks have noticed that Remix is not available for download, despite promises that it would be. Apparently, the free version of the book has been delayed until May, which is pretty lame, itself. And, then, of course, there's the possibility that the "removal" notice itself is just a Colbert joke -- though, it almost seems too subtle for Colbert's style of humor. If anyone has more info on what happened here, it would be great to know. Update: Adam Green, who works with Lessig and was at the taping stopped by to say, indeed, that it was a joke. If so, it's a bit odd, since they never even bothered to make clear what it was that was taken down.

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