Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar and political activist.

[14] In May 2014, he launched a crowd-funded political action committee that he entitled, Mayday PAC, with the purpose of electing candidates to Congress who would pass campaign finance reform.

[18] In August 2015, Lessig announced that he was exploring a possible candidacy for president of the United States, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day.

Lessig later updated his work in order to keep up with the prevailing views of the time and released the book as Code: Version 2.0 in December 2006.

[39] According to Comedy Central, Lessig claimed in 2009 that because 70 percent of young people obtain digital information from illegal sources, laws should be changed.

In March 2003, Lessig acknowledged severe disappointment with his Supreme Court defeat in the Eldred copyright-extension case, where he unsuccessfully tried to convince Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who had sympathies for de-regulation, to back his "market-based" approach to intellectual property regulation.

[50][51] Lessig sought damages under section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which holds parties liable for misrepresentations of infringement or removal of material.

In the film, Lessig frames the story of two young hacktivists, Swartz and Snowden, who symbolize the disruptive and dynamic nature of the Internet.

"[58] Richard von Busack of the Metro Silicon Valley, writes of Killswitch, "Some of the most lapidary use of found footage this side of The Atomic Café".

[56] Fred Swegles of the Orange County Register, remarks, "Anyone who values unfettered access to online information is apt to be captivated by Killswitch, a gripping and fast-paced documentary.

Director Ali Akbarzadeh, producer Jeff Horn, and writer Chris Dollar created a human centered story.

The letter argued that the bill would be a first step towards mitigating the severe risks posed by AI, and "the bare minimum for effective regulation of this technology".

[68] Lessig criticized the revolving-door phenomenon in which legislators and staffers leave office to become lobbyists and after having become beholden to special interests.

[69] In February 2008, a Facebook group formed by law professor John Palfrey encouraged Lessig to run for Congress from California's 12th congressional district, the seat vacated by the death of Representative Tom Lantos.

[71] To this end, he worked with political consultant Joe Trippi to launch a web based project called "Change Congress".

[72] In a press conference on March 20, 2008, Lessig explained that he hoped the Change Congress website would help provide technological tools voters could use to hold their representatives accountable and reduce the influence of money on politics.

[74][75] In November 2011, Lessig announced that Rootstrikers would join forces with Dylan Ratigan's Get Money Out campaign, under the umbrella of the United Republic organization.

"[81] He promoted this idea at a September 24–25, 2011, conference he co-chaired with the Tea Party Patriots' national coordinator,[83] in Lessig's October 5, 2011, book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It,[84] and at the Occupy protest in Washington, D.C.[85] Reporter Dan Froomkin said the book offers a manifesto for the Occupy Wall Street protestors, focusing on the core problem of corruption in both political parties and their elections.

[86] An Article V convention does not dictate a solution, but Lessig would support a constitutional amendment that would allow legislatures to limit political contributions from non-citizens, including corporations, anonymous organizations, and foreign nationals and he also supports public campaign financing and electoral college reform to establish the one person, one vote principle.

"[citation needed] The walk was to continue the work of New Hampshire native Doris "Granny D" Haddock, and in honor of deceased activist Aaron Swartz.

On August 11, 2015, Lessig announced that he had launched an exploratory campaign for the purpose of exploring his prospects of winning the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States in the 2016 election.

In October 2015, Lessig abandoned his automatic resignation plan and adopted a full policy platform for the presidency, although he did retain the passage of the Citizen Equality Act as his primary legislative objective.

[92] Lessig made a single campaign stop in Iowa, with an eye toward the first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses: at Dordt College, in Sioux Center, in late October.

In 2023, Lessig wrote an editorial in Slate suggesting that the electoral college should be the body that decides whether Donald Trump engaged in insurrection under the U.S. Constitution.

He explained that it was better "that the college called into being for the sole purpose of selecting a president decide the matter than for sitting politicians or state officials.

"[98] Lessig was awarded honorary doctorates by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University, Sweden in 2013 and by the Université catholique de Louvain in 2014.

[99][100] Lessig received the 2014 Webby Lifetime Achievement award for co-founding Creative Commons and defending net neutrality and the free and open software movement.

[103] In August 2006, he succeeded in persuading the New Jersey Supreme Court to radically restrict the scope of immunity, which had protected nonprofits that failed to prevent sexual abuse from legal liability.

[109] The article used the headline "A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It in Secret", which Lessig confirmed was based on a statement he had made to the Times.

He subsequently accused the Times of writing clickbait with the headline crafted to defame him, and stated that the circulation of the article on social media had hurt his reputation.