As one whose livelyhood and fortunes have gone from boom to bust over my lifetime, I can attest that living on the cutting edge of technology can disrupt fortunes and futures. As an individual of modest means, my only choice has been to adapt.
The power of basic computing and open networks has revolutionized and democratized. That has threatened the business of governmental tyranny and the big media oligarchy. They will use brute force to hold onto power rather than adapt to take advantage of new technology. The them, the lions share of a shrinking pie is preferable to a dominant position in a rising tide that lifts all fortunes.
New media author and self publishing pioneer Cory Doctorow presents a bleak reality that can only be overcome by the diligence of the average citizen.
Protect IP AKA E Parasite is advancing in the Congress and could become law in the blink of an eye. If passed this bill will stifle innovation, creativity, and kill jobs. It will also enable the government to censor any site it wishes. That means the democratization of knowledge and the freedom of expression will be at risk for everyone. Even if you trust the group running the show today (and you shouldn’t) , they won’t be there forever.
Please call or write your representative and your senators today to encourage them to vote against Protect IP. The freedom you may save will be your own.
I’ve mentioned more than once that elitists have traditionally derived most of their power from the control of information. The balance has been derived from the brute force of the military and law enforcement. The Internet continues to democratize information at light speed. Knowledge has gained its own right of freedom, and the seeker of knowledge is fining it at will with increasing ease. That spells big trouble for the ruling class. It also reveals the the true class warfare that is underway, but unreported. That is a war against the freedom of knowledge. Government agencies has been quick to criminalize activities of common citizens that pose little or no threat to anything other than the unchecked power of the status quo.
Cries that we are not ready for a Cyber War have been growing among pols and fed contractors over the last couple of years. For anyone who was been paying attention, so called Cyber Wars have been underway for some time. Potential for foreign based assaults plague the realm of every single Internet user, as they have for decades. This has grown largely thanks to rogue nations sponsoring these activities to others simply ignoring them. Private citizens and most businesses effected by them have found very little sympathy of aid from the feds. A entire industry has grown to protect against and mitigate these threats. That industry has largely kept threats in check, even with abundant interference from our very own feds. (more…)
It’s funny how even the most strict constitutionalists in government lose their standards when Hollywood and big music are involved. One can only surmise that the benefits of ignoring the supreme law to benefit big media must be compelling. As a consequence, our intellectual property laws have devolved into a one sided, unconstitutional mess. Enforcement has also devolved. US ICE has been guilty of wholesale domain seizures without due process. Many of those grabbed have been taken purely on suspicion and seized properties have often been held by parties outside of US jurisdiction.
Along with overstepping it’s authority, the collective federal stupidity acts without any understanding of human will and ingenuity. When government restricts access to something people want, a work around is found. With the ease of setting up alternative DNS servers, the feds will be fighting a battle they can’t win. Left to their own devices, the feds will spend unlimited sums of our money and trounce on more of our freedoms in a futile effort to try.
There always has been and always will be some piracy. The best defense if to make the paid product more attractive to most people. It’s time for the movies and music dinosaurs to get back to the basics of creating and selling value for value instead of buying new laws from corrupt pols. It’s also time to send the corrupt pols on a permanent vacation where they where the will be free to frolic with Hollywood without doing any more harm.
More disruption in the music industry? #1 streaming service Rhapsody acquires download service Napster.
Facebook patents tracking its members on non-Facebook sites. A bad patent awarded to the company that insists it isn’t interested in tracking its users.
Do you use WiFi? Patent trolls have you in the crosshairs. Isn’t about time to end the patent protection racket business?
On to Copyright trolling: Former Hollywood PI reveals some big media’s twisted ploys to influence lawmaking and enforcement.
The market goes cold for IPO’s. That means VC’s will be investing less too. Want to improve the odds for recovery? Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.
Yahoo and ABC combine news organizations. That means even less diversity of viewpoints in big media. It also means Yahoo news will suck even more.
I think social is destined to go tribal. To that end gamers get their own network.
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