The First Amendment in Media

To think that this movement has been completely under my nose and I did not even know about it or really realize that i had been a part of it since its relative inception...

The dust-up underscores both the power and the danger of what has come to be known as the Web 2.0 movement, a loosely defined group of Internet sites that foster online social networks and rely heavily on purely democratic principles to promote everything from news stories to music to photographs.

SFgate.com, May 3rd 2007: User revolt at Digg.com shows risks of Web 2.0"

It's amazing how much freedom is monitored and taken for granted. Thinking for one moment that you can get away with anything in our 'democracy-oriented' society can end you up in federal prison.

This article brings up the ethical use of free information (open source, I suppose, is the easiest thing to call it) sites such as livejournal, blogger, YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia that allow users to essentially run their own web space. It creates a communal atmosphere on the one hand that is positive and constructive in promoting awareness and, in some respects, non-violent ends to means that would normally be rather histrionic in real life. Yet these websites are, in fact, almost worse that having your own website because now the government and organizations such as the movie and music industries are targeting them in an attempt to bring more money and power into their possession.

Think Napster, but the difference being that these open-source websites make it so that EVERYONE can participate. Spy and ad-ware free.

Personally, I think that perhaps the age of the music and movie industry are coming to close. Adobe and Apple (amongst other software providers) are making it easier and easier for people (including students!) to have access to professional software, whether it be iMovie HD or Final Cut Pro. iTunes and Myspace now make it easier for bands to post music and sell it (iTunes for a nominal fee, mind you) and garageband enables regular users to freely voice their opinions (gotta love the First Amendment, yeah?). There is no limit to the production of free media, except for the restrictions placed upon us by these industries that are losing their steam, especially with the decline in quality of films and music in the past few years.

I say let it burn.