Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Mad World
In an age where consumerism is fast becoming a religion by itself, where one has a hard time keeping pace with the steep rise of technology; it's getting harder and harder to come clean and deny having used, in one way or another, this very same technology to violate another person's rights or at least further one's interest over another.
The world that is the internet, for instance, provides an avenue for a plethora of things one could do wherein one is able to affect, or at least look in to, the life of another human being, simply by a few mouse clicks and/or typed words.
There are the ever-popular Friendster and Myspace, which many consider to be a stalker's dream put to life. Simply by subscribing to their services, one could have an idea of the world of this other person whom we've come to know only by name or by his/her email address. Sure, there are restrictions available to a given user. But very few actually make use of them. Indeed, they do tend to defeat the purpose of joining such a community.
There is peer-to-peer transactions made possible by softwares like edonkey, KazaA, eMule and Limewire. This goes to include those applications making use of bit-torrent technology. These online exchanges of data are probably the fastest, most convenient way to send one's work across the globe at the least cost possible. Many of the entertainment bigwigs are naturally opposed to this. They are losing billions, they say, in revenue because of the huge advantage this technology provides to pirates and copyright terrorists.
We have the password and serial number providers. The Net is dotted with sites that provide serial numbers and/or passwords for restricted internet sites or softwares. What motivation is there left for a person contemplating on purchasing an authentic PC game or utility application?
These are but some of the realities out there that we are forced to deal with right now. They may not appear to be all that daunting --- at least not yet --- but I surmise they would be in the very near future.
How does one resist the urge? The temptation to do something which, in all likelihood, is probably not the most law-abiding thing to do? Is there need to reassess one's morals? Or are we justified in 'fighting back' against what Marx referred to as the world's owners of the modes of production, by completely disregarding their ability to earn income?
The lines have been drawn in some areas. But they are oftentimes still blurred, and rather confusing.
The thing about it though is that no one appears to be in a hurry to remedy this. At least there is no significant number.
But we're not complaining. No. Not just yet.
The world that is the internet, for instance, provides an avenue for a plethora of things one could do wherein one is able to affect, or at least look in to, the life of another human being, simply by a few mouse clicks and/or typed words.
There are the ever-popular Friendster and Myspace, which many consider to be a stalker's dream put to life. Simply by subscribing to their services, one could have an idea of the world of this other person whom we've come to know only by name or by his/her email address. Sure, there are restrictions available to a given user. But very few actually make use of them. Indeed, they do tend to defeat the purpose of joining such a community.
There is peer-to-peer transactions made possible by softwares like edonkey, KazaA, eMule and Limewire. This goes to include those applications making use of bit-torrent technology. These online exchanges of data are probably the fastest, most convenient way to send one's work across the globe at the least cost possible. Many of the entertainment bigwigs are naturally opposed to this. They are losing billions, they say, in revenue because of the huge advantage this technology provides to pirates and copyright terrorists.
We have the password and serial number providers. The Net is dotted with sites that provide serial numbers and/or passwords for restricted internet sites or softwares. What motivation is there left for a person contemplating on purchasing an authentic PC game or utility application?
These are but some of the realities out there that we are forced to deal with right now. They may not appear to be all that daunting --- at least not yet --- but I surmise they would be in the very near future.
How does one resist the urge? The temptation to do something which, in all likelihood, is probably not the most law-abiding thing to do? Is there need to reassess one's morals? Or are we justified in 'fighting back' against what Marx referred to as the world's owners of the modes of production, by completely disregarding their ability to earn income?
The lines have been drawn in some areas. But they are oftentimes still blurred, and rather confusing.
The thing about it though is that no one appears to be in a hurry to remedy this. At least there is no significant number.
But we're not complaining. No. Not just yet.
# posted by uberjam @ 12:32 PM 
