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The End of Free
The Atlantic has up an insightful piece from its print edition called Closing the Digital Frontier. Michael Hirschorn takes readers through a jaundiced version of the familiar story of the rise and dominance of the "Information wants to be free" meme, then claims that the era of freedom is now over. "...the phrase Information wants to be free... became perhaps the most powerful meme of the past quarter century; so powerful, in fact, that multibillion-dollar corporations destroyed their own businesses at its altar. ... But now, it seems, things are changing all over again. The shift of the digital frontier from the Web, where the browser ruled supreme, to the smart phone, where the app and the pricing plan now hold sway, signals a radical shift from openness to a degree of closed-ness that would have been remarkable even before 1995. ... It’s far from a given that this shift will generate the kinds of revenue media companies are used to: for under-30s whelped on free content, the prospect of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars yearly for print, audio, and video (on expensive new devices that require paying AT&T $30 a month) is not going to be an easy sell. Yet lack of uptake by young people will hardly stop the rush to apps. There’s too much potential upside."
Are you gonna have the "which-is-more-freedom-the-right-to-be-free-but-without-the-right-to-enslave-or-the-right-to-be-free-including-the-right-to-enslave-debate now?
I'll join, but I'll just skip it and jump to the end and state that I like the one without slavery better. :)
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
Can you use these over-the-air television channels to surf the Web or download files? No? Then your comparison is meaningless.
Besides, nothing's more pathetic than a libertarian whining that a free public service he enjoys is about to be cut off.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Everyone generalizes, it seems....
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Most. Awesome. Smackdown. EVAR.
The best things in life are free: Sunsets, air, rain, FOSS, indie music, walking hand in hand with your S.O., playing catch with your grandchild, etc. Nothing you can buy holds a candle to any of these.
Your post is spot on, except for the above. For most men in our society, having female companionship is very expensive: $20,000 diamond rings, $100,000 weddings, giant wardrobes full of designer clothes, hundreds of shoes, etc. Luckily I found someone who isn't interested in all that and prefers to invest our money into more sensible things, but I feel sorry for all the guys who get hooked up with high-maintenance women who want to be treated like queens, even if it means going bankrupt.
"Information wants to be liberated"?
Information should burn its bra...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Information should burn its bra...
Information should tits or GTFO. >:V
People willing to trade their freedom of expression for temporary entertainment deserve neither and will lose both.