Lawrence Lessig Joins MAPLight.org Board

(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 18, 2008 ) BERKELEY, CA -- Renowned law professor Lawrence Lessig has joined the Board of Directors of MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization illuminating the connection between money and politics.

Professor Lessig, known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of intellectual property and the law of cyberspace, decided last June to shift his focus of scholarship and activism to the problem of corruption.

"MAPLight.org's correlations between money and votes elegantly illustrate how special interest campaign money pervades and weakens our democracy," said Lessig. "The site's unprecedented findings helped convince me that there was more that could be done to fight corruption, and how this issue is at the root of so many of our country's problems."

"Professor Lessig helped change how people think about copyright in the Internet age," said Dan Newman, Executive Director of MAPLight.org. "We are thrilled that he will be helping MAPLight.org use the power of the Internet to shine a light on our broken system of money-dominated politics."

Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was the Berkman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a Professor at the University of Chicago. He clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.

Professor Lessig is CEO and founder of Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright and the public domain. Creative Commons licenses help content creators keep copyright while inviting certain uses of their works.

Professor Lessig has won numerous awards, including the Free Software Foundation's Freedom Award, and was named one of Scientific American's Top 50 Visionaries, for arguing against interpretations of copyright that could stifle innovation and discourse online. He teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, contracts, and the law of cyberspace.

MAPLight.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that reveals how contributions correlate with legislation so that citizens have key information needed to draw their own conclusions about how campaign contributions affect policy. Campaign contributions are only one factor affecting legislator behavior. The correlations we highlight between industry and union giving and legislative outcomes do not show that one caused the other, and we do not make this claim. We do make the claim, however, that campaign contributions bias our legislative system. Simply put, candidates who take positions contrary to industry interests are unlikely to receive industry funds and thus have fewer resources for their election campaigns than those whose votes favor industry interests.

Our Research Data:
MAPLight.orgÂ’s research department uses Web 2.0 data mashup technology to combine three data sets: campaign contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) (OpenSecrets.org) and The National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP), special interest support and opposition for each bill in Congress (MAPLight.org research team), and legislative voting records and bill information (THOMAS via GovTrack.us).

About MAPLight.org:
MAPLight.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California. Its search engine at MAPLight.org illuminates the connection between Money And Politics (MAP) via an unprecedented database of campaign contributions and legislative outcomes. Data sources include: GovTrack.us; Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org); Federal Election Commission (FEC); and National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP). Support and opposition data is obtained through testimony at public hearings, proprietary news databases and public statements on the Web sites of trade associations and other groups. To learn more visit MAPLight.org.

Editors Note: Interviews with Daniel Newman available.

Media Contact: Pamela Heisey, pamela@maplight.org, cell: 415.299.0898

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MAPLight
Pamela Heisey
415.299.0898.
pamela@maplight.org