A couple weeks ago I made a comment in class wondering how the relationship between the media machines and the public will change over time. If you think about it, as more and more media becomes concentrated and their power becomes greater and greater, they will most likely end up with more rights to protect their property and impose ludicrous fines on those who infringe upon it. However, I wonder if a) not if, but how the relationship between the public and the media will change, and also b) how the public will go about maintaining their free culture.
A free black market, if you will, already exists on the internet, and the more oppressive the companies become in tightening their property, the more "Robin Hood" torrent sites will pop up. iTunes struck a great compromise with this. $.99 is very reasonable. But the more they go after kids that make $10,000/year at $250,000 a pop, and the more they become money-grubbing and blood-thirsty, the less sympathy the public will have for them, and the less successful they ultimately will be.
Will there be, one day, a black market, where internet merchants distribute things for free with masked IP numbers? I don't know too much about it, but I know people who download these things, and then they have special software from keep the RIAA from pinging them. Maybe it has already begun...
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3 comments:
The black market on the internet already exists as you've said. The torrent sites are there to "enact revenge" on the corporations who are imposing these harsh penalties. Just to clarify though, i think the can impose fines through the lobbyists paying off the politicians to write legislation in their favor.
I really like your second paragraph. $.99 for the iTunes songs is a great deal and compromise and I am willings to work with them. On the other hand, the threat of a $250,000 fine on someone who obviously doesnt have it doesnt generate much sympathy from me. Back when Napster was first under attack, I remember Metallica really trying to hit them hard, and eventually stopping because of how much it was hurting their fan base. Even now that is one of the first thigns that I think of when I hear the bands name.
The more the big companies shove, the more the public is going to shove back. I wish I could look 50 years into the future and see if the business model has moved more towards what it is like in Brazil as it was depticted in the movie we watched two weeks ago.
I do have a certain respect for those people who can download stuff illegally. I don't know how to download ... anything. So those people that can download stuff onto their computers so they are able to do certain things, have certain programs that I can not have. And I wish I would have the talent to do some of those things so I can have that luxury... and not pay for it.
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