The Return of Feudalism
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 9:06PM In case you're not up on current events, there is a revolution taking place in how we work, bank, receive information and are entertained, called -- you guessed it -- the Internet. Old paradigms are being made obsolete overnight and a new age of commerce is being formed right in front of us.
In this new age, content is king and those with the most content truly will be kings. Presently, those who have the most content are still primarily the movie industry, record labels, game developers, service providers and software makers. These are your new overlords and they will rule the land with a iron fist in order to keep what is theirs, theirs.
Vast numbers of refugees from the old places of employment, such as newspapers, hoping to find means of income from Internet endeavors, will find heavily fortified fortresses, surrounded by moats made of product activation protocols and guarded by armies of lawyers. These refugees will become the new serfs in the Age of Information, because unless you have content, you will be, as it were, out of luck and out of money.
There is still plenty of room on the Internet to carve out a niche and do well, but it is clear that intellectual property in all its forms will be the new commodity. As it comes into the possession of the new-age kings, it will be guarded like gold. Welcome to the return of feudalism. The kings, barons and knights of the coming age will pretty much own most of the Internet real estate, as they already do, and everyone else will either pay homage, or need permission to survive.
Remember unions and guilds? Gone and if you get too uppity while producing content for your lords, they'll just give your work to eager workers based in India, China and the myriad of other third world citizens who are now coming online.
Which brings me to the Swedish court's decision against the Pirate Bay. I think it is a clear indication of the power the new-age kings in the entertainment industry have to enforce copyright laws in a country like Sweden. It is also clear that Sweden's government was forced by external forces to make an example of the four young founders of the Pirate Bay. There is no doubt in my mind, that in order to show their power to other invaders, the prosecutors acting for the movie industry, asked for and received, impossible penalties for the offenders to pay. It reminds me of how Vlad the Impaler would stick corpses on poles around his castle as an example to anyone else who crossed him.
Back in the day, barons and other lords could pretty much do what they wanted to serfs. Of course, we're more civil now, so instead of public crucifixion, they just sue them into oblivion.
Now the question is, how will the entertainment industry go after Google, since Google has the same ability to track illegally uploaded torrent files? My guess is that, unlike the Pirate Bay, a concession will be made by Google on this, as they too are a new-age king. It's easy to kill a serf, or two, but going after another king is a bit more risky.
The whole point of caste systems is to maintain the ability of the few privileged to herd the much larger masses of those in lower classes. Lords will happily negotiate with other lords because it is in their interest to do so, because they are, in a way, enabling each other to maintain control.
I have no problem with content producers protecting their content, but I do have a problem when the case is based on a dubious premise and where another much-larger offender exists who remains untouched. It is bullying and intimidation to prove a point to the rest of you serfs.
And you are all serfs.
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