Code And Other Laws of Cyberspace is a book about the interaction between the legal system, social organizations, and cyberspace. Lessig contradicts the popular belief that the Internet cannot be regulated. He portrays a dark picture of the control forces at play to regulate the Internet.  The commercial uses of the Internet and the governments interest in gathering information on its citizens and groups of citizens are forces that are at work to make the Internet a regulated space.  The book argues that the people that use the Internet  need to get involved and decide what values they want the Internet to carry: those of free speech and expression, or those or regulation and control.   "Liberty in cyberspace will not come from the absence of the state. Liberty there, as anywhere, will come from a state of a certain kind." (Lessig. Code and other laws of cyberspace. 1999. p.5)

The book is not an easy-read, but one I highly recommend if you want to get an understanding of the issues surrounding cyberspace and the scenarios that are currently playing out to design what the Internet will or will not be. Each chapter has many analytical references, a total of forty pages of references, that could send you off on a reading adventure that would immerse you in the legal, cultural, and economic aspects of the Internet. References run the gamut of time from as early as 1889 to 1998, with a range of sources from constitutional law, case law, books, journals and popular magazine articles, e-zines and other Web resources. An index facilitates location of particular topics in the book. 

Code and the other laws of cyberspace was published in 1999, when the predictions of  doom of Y2K were rampant, and  the obvious implications of the poorly-designed computer code that controlled all computers was becoming known to most computer users.  Probably at no time in the history of computers was code, or the basic architecture of computers, going to be such a relevant issue to ordinary computer users.

The book is written in four parts, and builds a progressive analysis of these hardware and software control forces that are shaping the Internet, culminating with a section which explains what can be done to ensure that the Internet and cyberspace remain a space where values of free speech, free and open trade, and privacy guaranteed by the U.S. constitution stay intact.  Using his knowledge of law and the legal system, in combination with his knowledge of the Internet and cyberspace, Lessig develops strong arguments about how the legal system can be used to preserve the American constitutional values in cyberspace.