Let me tell you something. You do not want youth politicizing. Not that the kids shouldn’t take part in politics. You just don’t want to get them all jacked up over an issue like this. There are lots of them. They often have a lot of spare time. En masse they can ruin things for the “establishment.” Luckily, they tend to be lazy and cynical and seldom take to the streets or the ballot.
Well, it looks like the boneheads in Hollywood and the RIAA, along withonerous new copyright laws such as the DMCA and other restrictions, aretriggering change. I’d be cautious. Today’s youth internationally arenot like anything we’ve seen before. Their view of the world is skewedby the media and new realities. When they see all these restrictions,they see them done on behalf of fat guys who are flying around inprivate jets with a cabin full of high-class hookers while lightingcigars with hundred-dollar bills. They see rappers in limos wearingdiamonds and having their teeth removed and replaced with gold for noapparent reason other than to spend the suckers’ money. They seemega-yachts and homes that are the size of a small college all boughtand sold on the backs of the kids buying music. Indeed, they are seeinga different world than most of us did when we were growing up. It’snuts. It looks unfair or, worse, exploitative.
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Column by PC Magazine: The Politics of Piracy Emerge in Sweden
It’s going to take a while, but I think gradually the youth around the world, using computing technologies particularly to stay in touch and access quality information using a variety of empowering, awesome and beautiful free technologies will start to make a difference in the way the global and local community works.
From the growth of free culture to overcoming language and regional distances a free internet and a free software technology to access that free communication network will allow people to communicate freely across borders sharing ideas, works and resolutions.
I guess the ‘establishment’, or rather certain groups in the establishment would most certainly have a severe problem with that. I think there are a lot of companies (and governements) out there that really haven’t gotten it yet. They’d much rather see a couple of six to eight digit numbers on their pay cheques than mankind grow.
I guess many of these people don’t get that in the first place. They don’t understand the free software and free culture movement and how it works. When “Open-source development violates almost all known management theories” [Dr. Marietta Bab, Dean of the College of Social Science, Michigan State University] you know something is up. 
I am pretty proud and excited about this all and definitely looking forward to how all these technologies evolve, hopefully while I’m somewhere in the middle of some if it. 
technorati tags:technology, media, education, pcmagazine, piracy-party, politics
3 comments
Pascal,
I couldn’t agree more with you. I believe that new ways to distribute art and culture will change the world. We could see art flourish like nothing man kind has ever seen not even the Renaissance can compare. The Renaissance, as I understand it, were fueled by the rich. For the first time art will be self sustaining. I’m hanging out in the creative commons waiting for everyone to join me. You are already here. We’re not waiting to become something, we’re actively persueing it. Kudos to you. We can change the world.
Cheers, Scott
Definitely, and I think you and Brandon are living proof that people from around the world on a low budget, as students even, can undertake a massive endevour and create media to share with the world.
Brilliant interviews by the way - I’ve been downloading them for the last few days.
Oh, and send me your favourite photos for that promotional material.
Cheers, Pascal
Oh what a nice entry for Libervis newswire.
Reading your entry I had some thoughts in the back of my head regarding computers and network technologies. The though that occurs to me is that the real purpose of these technologies, the only true and good purpose, is to serve ordinary people, infact all people, to better their lives. What proprietary software companies and the entertainment industry giants do with it is merely abuse. What Free Culture and Free Software movements do is liberating us, the people, from this abuse.
Noone has the right to abuse technology to impose their own agenda over other people and against other people’s consent and will. Some would argue that proprietary software comes under consent of ordinary people, but I’m beginning to doubt that. I think the first proprietary software buyers were decieved, and the deception was becoming ever deeper as the time went on until the Free Software movement grew large enough to finally shed some light on that deception.
Just the same, the whole “piracy” issue and propaganda that RIAA and MPAA are spreading is nothing but deception.
What both deceptions basically say is that someone has the right to control a piece of your life for their own profit. It is a lie. The reason why it is also a deception is because they replace the word “profit” in that last sentence with the word “compensation”.
It’s time to stop this deception and tell the world that they deserve to be free from these invasions, that technology should be in hands of everyone equally and that we indeed should have freedom to share and foster culture without artificial obstacles they try to impose of us.
Technology belongs to users, not abusers.