That’s bogus!
Wired EIC (editor-in-chief), Chris Anderson, has just published a book espousing the nature of the free economy. As part of the book’s promotion, he gave a speech at the Wired Disruptive Business Conference outlining his main points (below). I offer a rebuttal in the form of early ninety’s hip-hop. Watch and learn:
Chris Anderson’s “bitch-ass” speech:
V. MC Double Def DP‘s Don’t Copy That Floppy! from 1992 (with extra whitey hate)
Bonus: DCTF sequel coming soon (with extra prison rape)!
P.S. If your game/movie/television show is so bad that only pirates will watch it (read: no one wants to pay to watch it – I’m looking at you, Michael Bay), then you need to re-think your media. Shit’s changin’, yo!
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Tags: crime, internet, media, peace and love, popular culture, social critique
July 27th, 2009 at 14:21
Two things, first: #1. 1992 is 17 years ago already. Crazy. #2. Twaddle, indeed.
Anyway, your point is well taken. If people don’t want to pay, maybe it’s just not that good. Collective quality control. True of games and music, but I’m not sure how it will pan out for the industrial news complex, on which our free society depends. This is what concerns me.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:18
In response to your points:
1. Yeah, makes you feel old, right?
2. Well, it’s a free blog. You get what you pay for.
The problem with piracy is manifold and very complex. The problems of today’s modern piracy is that it’s essentially free to reproduce and distribute any digital information, be it a video game, album, or news article. If you don’t want to pay, there will be somewhere to get it. What I don’t like about Anderson’s speech is that he says the economy is moving completely to the “free model,” but offers no insight into exactly how that is viable. You still have to pay someone to produce the information.
Perhaps if everyone stopped paying, they’ll stop producing, and everyone will realize the real cost of information.