jonl’s blog

I officially have too much to do, but it's better than sitting around.  One thing I'm not doing is attending the Austin City Limits festival, and that's a bummer. I'll be working, but while I'm working, I can have the ACL experience virtually via  live streaming at http://blueroom.att.com/mainstage/index.php.  Since AT&T is making that happen, I declare a three day moratorium on bitching about net neutrality.  There's be plenty of time for that on Sept 26, at the Freedom to Connect BarCamp.

My WorldChanging post about Sweden's Pirate Party drew some negative email defending the intelprop status quo. I was surprised, because I thought the post was pretty objective, and the Swedes themselves acknowledge potential damage in the wake of changing perceptions of "intellectual property." A broader point: the world keeps changing, and change is disruptive. I figure you're either adapting, or you're becoming obsolete.

Another thought: it's odd that we need "pirates" to make us think about sharing. There's a whole other way to think about creative work, which is that it's a product, not just of the artist, but of the milieu. In a sense all works are derivative.  It makes sense to acknowledge the public domain, to rethink copyright, and to encourage sharing (via projects like Creative Commons).