Feb 19, 2008 8:09 PM

Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig Explores Bid for Congress

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Digital rights crusader Larry Lessig said Tuesday that he’s considering a bid to take over the late Rep. Tom Lantos’ (D-Calif.) congressional seat.

He has given himself a March 1 deadline to make the decision.

In a video released on the web late Tuesday, the Stanford law professor formally launched what he calls the "Change Congress Movement," and he put out feelers to check support for his candidacy.

The professor’s goal is to tackle a problem that has dogged politics since perhaps the beginning of time: the corrupting influence of money.

In the video, Lessig called on members of Congress to form a bipartisan coalition whose participants would take three pledges he says would change the system: Take no money from political action committees, ban earmarks and agree to public financing of campaigns.

Long-time congressman Lantos died early February after announcing he wouldn’t seek re-election. The district spans a section of southern San Francisco and northern San Mateo counties.

Native San Franciscan and long-time California politico Jackie Speier, who has her own dramatic back story as a Jonestown investigator and gunshot survivor, has already announced her bid for the seat. Lantos endorsed her before his death.

Lessig’s career and public profile have traced a similar meteoric curve with the rise of the web and the internet in popular culture.

The law professor gained rock-star fame over the past decade as an iconic resistance fighter against the entertainment industry’s stifling luddite tendencies.

One of his most enduring achievements and contributions to 21st-century culture so far has been the creation and direction of Creative Commons, an internet-licensing project that makes clear the terms on which creative works can be re-used.

In 2004, Creative Commons and Wired.com collaborated to produce a CD of CC-licensed music.

But seeking new challenges, Lessig announced last year he was switching his focus to the even bigger issue of corruption and the influence of money in U.S. politics.

One of the core ideas he thinks will bring about the change he seeks is the use of internet reporting tools that would make the sources of influence and flow of money in government more transparent. He has pointed to the work of the Sunlight Foundation as a leading example of what might be achieved.

Supporters have established a Draft Lessig Facebook group, MySpace page, website and ActBlue online fundraising account in the past week.