Thursday, June 09, 2005
Darknet: Mini-book
Darknet: Mini-book: "These decisions, being made today in Washington and in private industry forums, could shape digital culture for generations to come. The battles really boil down to a simple choice: whether we want to be users or consumers.
In one vision, individuals will be free to create and distribute movie shorts, personal musical works, and homemade video, occasionally borrowing bits and pieces from the culture around them. Individuals, acting as personal media networks, will build on earlier works to create and distribute compelling digital stories, true-life dramas, fan fiction, pieced-together television shows, modded computer games, and rich virtual worlds. Some users will go further, creating not just new content but also entirely new forms of media.
The second vision, pushed by entertainment interests and their Washington allies, seeks to preserve the status quo—a constricted view of our digital future that relies on formulaic broadcast content sent along one-way pipes to a passive, narcotized audience. Under this regime, consumers will have the power to choose among five hundred brands offered by the same handful of vendors, with little or no power to create their own cultural products."
In one vision, individuals will be free to create and distribute movie shorts, personal musical works, and homemade video, occasionally borrowing bits and pieces from the culture around them. Individuals, acting as personal media networks, will build on earlier works to create and distribute compelling digital stories, true-life dramas, fan fiction, pieced-together television shows, modded computer games, and rich virtual worlds. Some users will go further, creating not just new content but also entirely new forms of media.
The second vision, pushed by entertainment interests and their Washington allies, seeks to preserve the status quo—a constricted view of our digital future that relies on formulaic broadcast content sent along one-way pipes to a passive, narcotized audience. Under this regime, consumers will have the power to choose among five hundred brands offered by the same handful of vendors, with little or no power to create their own cultural products."
