The Opening of Pandora's Box
The digital age has been considered a Pandora's Box by many, letting loose a variety of evils upon the world. However, it has also offered Hope for the Future. Since the creation of the Internet and the dawn of the Information Age, a new means of communication has erupted into mainstream culture. Where older technologies such as cellular phones, televisions and radios allowed people to connect with each other on a larger scale, these connections still operated on either a 1-to-1 basis or a 1-to-All format. The Internet has since changed all that. New technologies, new means of connecting with each other, new means of communicating ideas and collaberating on these ideas rapidly altered the landscape of the digital realm and created a 'level playing field' for any wishing to champion a cause, put forth their art, or merely express their ideas.
One of the pinnacle achievements of this age became the creation of a relatively unknown distribution network known as 'Weedshare'. Through this distribution system, artists gained access to digital technologies that allowed them to distribute their audio and visual art to a world-wide audience and recieve a maximum benefit from their intellectual property. Fans also benefitted from this system in that they suddenly gained access to a new form of legalized file sharing. Instead of restricting access to digital media, fans who legally purchased music and videos through this system were granted a new ability: They could now legally share these files at a profit for themselves.
In one fell swoop, all the old walls regarding the Fair Use of media had fallen. A simple independent media outlet had suddenly brought a new message into the world. To quote fellow Canadian, Marshall McLuhan:
"The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology."
What would be the message of this new technology, this new medium for communication combined with a media that allowed for the distribution of art and culture between individuals and artists? The answer is simple.
Everyone is equal.
Man need no longer be judged by the color of his skin, his religious convictions, or any other qualifier that sets us apart and makes us different. On the Internet, everyone is already equal and the only difference is one of pure mind and opinion. Under this new system for the distribution of culture, the only divisor that exists between individuals is their taste in art. Surprisingly, this one simple corporate entity succeeded in fulfilling the unitary dream set forth in the American Declaration of Independence over 230 years ago:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Through the development of a simple distribution model that decentralized the power of the Pop Culture Record Labels, a new system of 'People Culture' had emerged that allowed anyone of any race or creed to publish their artwork to a world-wide audience, and anyone in the world could legally distribute their artwork for them without fear of repercussions. Freedom of Speech had found a new home and a new form of value. Yet despite the global possibilities now available, this format remained relatively unknown. Aside from a handful of content providers around the world, scattered to the winds and attempting to raise awareness of this new system on their own, the message had never been truly recieved by the much broader mass of mankind. Only time and energy would suffice to see this system evolve into a form that would see broader acceptance to a world-wide audience.
Corporate Roadblocks
This was not to be the case. Entrenched corporate interests that current control the access to the media are not as interested in seeing everyone on a 'level playing field.' At that point, the old corporations would become redundant and the need for their existence would fade. Technology represents intellectual property and as such the current system of patents and copyrighting does more to uphold the old mentality of centralized corporate governance and power. Instead of Equality for All being shouted from the rooftops, this system has been marginalized and now virtually eliminated through the actions of the corporate agencies it was based upon. Microsoft, the corporation that originally opened the Pandora's Box that is known as 'Free Music' is directly responsible for the disappearance of this new form of equality.
During the 1990s, an Antitrust suit was brought against Microsoft for infringing on the rights of companies like Netscape, a web-browser development company, for manipulating their operating system into favoring MS' Internet Explorer over other 3rd-party browsing software, denying them the right to Fair Use of the platform. For a while, the suit appeared to be on the verge of dividing Microsoft into a series of smaller companies that would each be responsible for the development of a single facet of their corporate vision, preventing the development of a full-blown technological monopoly. This division never took place. Microsoft has since grown to be one of the world's largest and most profitable corporations. The first of the MegaCorporations that initially provided a secure foundation for the development of the Weedshare distribution system through use of their PlaysForSure DRM.
In 2007, this all changed. In rolling out their new Vista operating system, Microsoft effectively eliminated the entire Weedshare distribution model. Through use of several 'bugs' in the system, they effectively ruled out the ability of Weedshare consumers to purchase and trade music over the Internet. The technology that made the Weedshare system possible has not dissappeared, however. Instead it has found a new home in Microsoft's Zune distribution model, originally a direct copy of the Weedshare business model, but without the incentive to fans for sharing the music. In one fell swoop, Microsoft's Zune distribution model had announced a new message to the world.
Everyone is somewhat Equal... Under Microsoft.
This new message, announced to the World in finality with the closure of the Weedshare distribution network as of April 9th, 2007, is in direct violation of the clauses that follow the opening statements of the Declaration of Independence:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
As the closure of the Weedshare distribution system removes a system of equality from the world marketplace, it is the aim of this blog to outline the injustices taking place and how they directly contravene the long established goals set forth in the American Declaration of Independence. The arrogance of the corporate state has grown to such a level that we are verging on a the birth of a Digital Dark Age, where instead of providing for a world of Equality and Freedom, manipulations of business and patent law have given rise to a world founded on Absolute Control of the rights of the individual to freely express their viewpoint to the widest possible audience and to profit from the fruits of their intellectual achievements.
Free Music - Valueless or Priceless?
At the core of this concept lies some of the deepest philisophical questions of the Digital Age. Should music, art and culture be subjected to corporate systems of control? Or, should the agencies in charge of managing our digital future and history instead be founded on new principles? The Freedom of Information Act, properly applied to a corporate model, could still fulfill this dream. A not-for-profit corporation could be setup to manage and maintain the databases required for such a system to exist. This new global corporation, completely open-book, with all it's information, transactions and payouts completely open to public scrutiny, would more than be able to provide for the technological backbone that would maintain this system at a minimalistic cost. Instead of one corporation rising above all others, one corporation would be providing a solid foundation for the level playing field everyone can stand on.
Another question, rarely asked in the frevor of people championing the concept of 'FREE MUSIC', is whether or not Human Culture is Valueless or Priceless. The mp3 revolution gave rise to valueless music that contributes nothing to the world economy. The RIAA, long upheld as an example of the evils of corporate extremes, is right in one aspect of their argument. If 1 million people download a song for free, nothing is contributed to the world economy. If those same people each paid 1 dollar a piece for the art they've recieved, the economy benefits from the product creation and movement of funds. However, free mp3s mean that the art is never given value and does not contribute any additional value to the world marketplace. Music and culture deserve to be valued. It's impact on the human condition is priceless not worthless, and providing for a system of values that contributes to the overall human condition through the new digital economy is the most important product of the Information Age.
The final aim of this blog, is to raise awareness of not what is... but what could be. The possibilities inherent in the system of communications we have created for ourselves are endless.
The Digital Age should not be an age of Darkness and Control... it should be an Age of Wonder.
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