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A new book has hit the streets, with some candid
observations regarding empowered media consumers and
alleged Hollywood attempts to maintain the status quo of
the public as passive media consumers.
Darknet:
Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation by J.D. Lasica explores the evolution in media consumption
through a series of stories that illustrate the theory
that Hollywood is actively attempting to repress
consumer freedom of choice.
Who will control digital information consumption in the
future? According to Lasica, that battle is being fought
today through copyright protection, political wrangling,
and legal strategies.
While consumers want increased control over the use of
digital content, those who produce and deliver such
content want to be able to charge a fee to use it. This
goes back to the days of Napster, Replay TV and file
sharing – and forward to Kazaa, TiVo and iPod.
Lasica does recognize the value of copyright protection,
but espouses the ideal of an eventual
consumer-controlled media that offers true information
democracy. By illustrating “Darknet” stories, he is able
to show how some digital freedom fighters are working to
protect the rights of information citizens – and
sometimes abuse those rights.
An interesting aspect of the book is that it was written
using many of the tools that empowered information
consumers use today – blogs and a wiki. While Lasica is
the author of the book, much of the information was
contributed by digital citizens.
As Lasica states in his introduction, “I wrote this book
for two reasons: to tell the stories of the strong
personalities and colorful characters at ground zero of
this momentous battle and to spotlight the threat posed
to digital culture.” He does an excellent job, and the
book should be required reading for media executives and
information consumers alike.
For more information, go to
http://www.darknet.com.
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