“Digital Darwinism: Perspectives for Industry and Government” (http://goo.gl/WkZUL at Computerworld)

Digital Darwinism: Perspectives for Industry and Government

A term which will soon see greater use, but it would be nice for the nuances to be understood

A few days ago I spoke on a panel at PICTFOR – the Parliamentary ICT Forum – some writeups of which have been posted elsewhere; but a few days prior in preparation myself and some friends had the opportunity to speak with PICTFOR Vice-Chair Eric Joyce MP over a pint, and on that occasion we touched upon the SOPA/PIPA Blackout.

His exact words elude me, but Eric questioned whether the blackout was due to corporate interests, a question which shocked me because a) I felt that I knew the true answer – i.e.: “no” – but also b) because I had assumed that that answer was obvious to everyone… but apparently not.

I must be spending too much time inside the echo-chamber; so let’s spell it out.

In a sense the SOPA/PIPA Blackout was the world’s biggest-ever flashmob; I am hoping this metaphor still works because flashmobs have been adopted as cute corporate advertising gimmicks, but in the good old days flashmobs were as simple as texting a bunch of friends:

When’s the last time you had a pillowfight? Be in Trafalgar Square at 3pm. Bring your own pillow (soft!) and invite your friends.

…read more, or comment at Unscrewing Security

Comments

3 responses to ““Digital Darwinism: Perspectives for Industry and Government” (http://goo.gl/WkZUL at Computerworld)”

  1. Martin Brown

    Hello Alec, I’m not good with 50/50 decisions and I don’t mean to be sniffy but surely the answer is Yes, not No. Eric seems to be saying that the blackout was a protest against Hollywood and other corporate interest in stronger copyrights laws?

    1. Hi Martin!

      I understand that that’s the explanation which is popular in lobbyist (and lobbied) circles, and I believe the reason for the popularity of that explanation is that it doesn’t require a bigger picture to be explained and dealt with.

      You’ve probably seen the monthly “Critical Mass” bicycle rides through London; to claim them as resulting from industry pressure from bicycle manufacturers would be grossly misrepresentative – yet a case could be made; I could present the greater adoption of cycling as being driven by marketing of bicycles as exciting, healthy and even a little counter-cultural, and hence influencing the growth of these mass-rides.

      However if I made the above case it would be a tail-wagging-the-dog argument, and pretty ludicrous.

      Likewise the story that Eric is being fed is yet another dog’s tail, and the entirety of government is failing to observe the dog to which it is attached.

      Internet fora, internet makers and creators of content have recognised SOPA/PIPA as threats to their wellbeing – Eric, myself and the others in the pub discussed issues such as Youtube “takedown notices” – mothers being sued for snippets of videos involving bouncing babies with a tinny Michael Jackson song on the background radio – and in their recognition chose to protest by blacking-out their own website in order to raise awareness.

      See this quote:

      We’ve seen some amazing activism organized by redditors at /r/sopa and across the reddit community at large. You have made a difference in this fight; and as we near the next stage, and after much thought, talking with experts, and hearing the overwhelming voices from the reddit community, we have decided that we will be blacking out reddit on January 18th from 8am-8pm EST (1300-0100 UTC).

      From this page:

      http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/stopped-they-must-be-on-this-all.html

      …and the rest of the story ensued as I described in my article.

      It is not fake, it is not astroturfing, there is no great conspiracy to launder corporate interests. Normal people actually do shit like this, and are now in a position to embarrass even megacorps like Google into toeing a communitarian-defined “moral” line.

      Welcome to the new. Buy me a pint and I’m happy to explain more. 🙂

  2. Martin Brown

    Hi again I get it now. And IOU a pint 🙂

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