Josef Anvil's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week

from the the-web-kids-revolution-was-not-televised dept

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.

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