Josef Anvil's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
We’ve come to the end of another week at Techdirt, and I have to say that for once, I’m not completely outraged about “the system.” The reason for my renewed sense of optimism comes from stringing together my favorite Techdirt posts for the week.
Hmmm. I just reread that and it didn’t seem right, as I don’t really have a list of favorite posts for the week. Instead I see quite a few posts that all support my single FAVORITE post of the week. Yes, there is one single clear winner this week that really needs to be addressed. Before I talk about that post, I want to look at the framework around it and will try to be quick.
Crowdsourcing an innovation agenda, sounds cool and it could be the start of something. It even seems that it’s not a matter of “if” it develops but rather “how,” since people are tackling the issue from different angles and with new platforms. Then we have crowdfunding which not only seems to be working but is picking up steam and is yet another one of those things that is just fun to watch.
Next we have the stories about the Bodog.com takedown and the aftermath of the Megaupload.com takedown and, as usual, the internet routes around the damage and most users of those services barely notice. They wake up and their service is gone, so they move to the next one. Then leading up to the big finish we have to look at being right vs being realistic, piracy vs innovation, and online vs offline rules, which are all looks at how the internet has changed the world in which we live.
So where does all of this lead? To Glyn Moody’s article about the “We, the Web Kids” manifesto, my FAVORITE post of the week and possibly my favorite post EVER on Techdirt. This one article encapsulates almost everything that is discussed in this forum. Whether the debate is about SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP or TSA or RIAA/MPAA or WIPO or Google or Facebook, we have to accept the fact that we are all far more connected than ever before, some of us are even hyperconnected, and it has changed us. We no longer just accept the opinions of “authority,” we want FACTS, we want data, we want the truth (or close as possible). This article details a fundamental shift in the way people THINK, and it’s not just the “web kids.” Personally, I didn’t grow up with the web, but I’m certainly not so blind as to miss how integrated into my life it is. Before the web, I didn’t talk to people all over the world on a daily basis, now I do. How I consume media is completely different, as I get to choose what, when, how, and why. In other words, the way things are done has CHANGED because of the internet.
This manifesto is a wake up call to politicians and corporations around the world. Your citizens and consumers have changed. They are becoming or have become a part of the digital era. They Skype, Tweet, FB, and IM their ideas, opinions, and comments without giving much thought about the process. They Google everything, they shop on their phones, they record video and post it before the “real news” can, they text while in meetings, they create with Gimp and NVU, they work with OpenOffice, and they consume media thru Netflix, HULU, Spotify, Grooveshark, HuffPo, and YouTube. They want to throw away physical storage and move stuff into the “cloud,” if you let them. They don’t want to hear that consumers shouldn’t dictate the market, because they know how to write reviews and share information. They don’t want to hear about laws being bought, and are willing to speak out and challenge the “old ways.”
One last point I would like to focus on, in the manifesto, which I found particularly engaging is the awareness of CwF + RtB, albeit heavily focused on RtB. In the digital world, we realize there isn’t much of a cost for packaging or distribution and so naturally we don’t see any reason to pay for those things. “But…but…but… the content is so valuable.” NO, it’s not. Charge me $9.99 for an ebook, and see how fast I discover new authors who will charge me $.99 or $.10 for content that is just as good. For $9.99, I want more than just pages of content that I can’t resell.
Sadly, because the content industry controls the broadcast medium, the digital revolution was not televised.
Re: Re:Seriously???
You try to brush off the IRA analogy because the group wasn't large enough? Ok fair point, it's not a big enough chunk of Christianity.
Try to explain this one away. The KKK
Largest domestic terrorist group ever and in the name of Christ.
WTF?
The people are confused. Tech has advanced such that many people can now do things for themselves that previously they would have had to pay for.
People use libraries when it is too time consuming or inefficient to copy a book. Now its easily done. Publishers may whine about the loss of profits, but that's a pricing issue for their business model. The majority of textbooks are just facts. No one wants to hear about copyrights on facts.
What about all of the professional printers that lost business because people can print at home? What about the recording studios that are losing business because people can record at home? What about all the other businesses that have been impacted by home computing?
You adapt your business model or become the next Kodak or buggy whip manufacturer.
Re: Re: DAMN!!!!!
LOL
Someone got a common sense bomb dropped on them.
Re: Re: Oh, the moral outrage
WTF????
Someone needs to drop a common sense bomb on all these "save the poor children online" types.
HELLO???? McFLY????
If these children are old enough to be unsupervised on the net, then why do they not know that murder is wrong, or beheading is wrong, or rape is wrong (oh wait... Steubenville).
Re: Re: Re: Oh, the moral outrage
Actually the response was so incredibly stupid that there was no need to correct the pronoun.
Using my or your mom in the example didn't add any logic to your argument.
Just for laughs I should add... Once you begin viewing content, it is not TOO LATE to decide if you like it or not.
Oh, the moral outrage
My devices have off switches. If I don't like what I'm looking at or listening to, then I have the option to NOT consume.
I've seen exactly one beheading online. I watched it, found it distasteful and never looked for one again. I've never encountered one on Facebook, nor looked for one there. If I ever do get a beheading in my feed, I know how to delete it.
Limiting a person's options does not change the nature of a person. People who like to watch horrible things will still continue to do so.
Bribetards
Not a big deal
It may be time to ease off the NSA and turn the camera lens elsewhere. Yes the NSA got caught.
Now the whole world is pointing at the US for spying on its citizens. The USA is not alone in that activity, it's just public information now.
You can be assured that most of the governments in the EU are snooping through their citizens' data as well.
Where are the trolls???
Whenever there is an article about surveillance, the trolls usually say...
If you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide.
Tech doesn't care
No matter how much influence a company has and no matter how much an industry tries to fight, tech moves forward.
It does not care about protecting your business model. We moved to gasoline powered cars, we switched to email, we moved to mobile devices, we share content on the net, we will copy in 3D.
Adapt or die. Ask the good people at Kodak that thought film would never go away. Think TV won't move to a net based model???? Dream on.
Dear MPAA/RIAA...
IF Google changed the algo so that whenever ANY search for the pirate bay turned up ALL of the MPAA/RIAA sites first, here is what would happen.
The user would search through the results til they found the link for the pirate bay, then they would bookmark it or remember the page it showed up in the results.
Net effect on piracy? 0
Merriam-Webster doesn't make the law
Congress makes the laws, so they should leave the definitions to the people that make dictionaries.
journalist
1
a : a person engaged in journalism; especially : a writer or editor for a news medium
b : a writer who aims at a mass audience
2
: a person who keeps a journal
Seems easy enough. Those are the people that the shield law should protect.
Ummmm
If your Call of Duty CV can be taken as a threat, then we have a generation of Super Sniper Badass Seal Uber Agents out there ready to strike.
Online.
Wrong Target
Stop complaining about pirates. Things will even out once we get rid of the leeches in the industry.
Pirates do not steal, they infringe. Leeches are directly taking real money they haven't earned.
Who says politicians don't learn from the internet???
TPP negotiation routes around transparency.
Don't forget Bob Jones
http://vimeo.com/53743428#at=0
Please Please Please
"...there appeared to be little evidence that he was involved in terrorism."
I would just LOVE to see what the little evidence of terrorism is. Show us so we can finally see what it looks like.
And now you know...
This is a perfect example of why the government is in favor of supporting "professional" journalists and not lowly bloggers.
Re: Where all the freeloaders are
I love when people talk about all the freeloaders online.
It's as if online is some magical place where there is an entirely different population of humans.
Help has arrived!!!!
"Even a behemoth like Facebook is unable to control every instance of offensive behavior that occurs under its purview".
So the NSA has a monitoring program to assist with that on a global scale.