Infoanarchism

[CHEGUAVARA]

I didn't know quite where to put this thread.

However, the question is:

What are your opinions on Infoanarchism and Anti-Copyright? Myself, I'm all to it; one place where capitalism really runs wild is the internet and a way of stopping this is Infoanarchism. On Youtube (which is run by Google, the no. 1. capitalists in the world), for example, big business rule and there's no room for the little guy. Another company who basically rules Youtube and other parts of the internet is WMG, Warner Music Corporation, who are at least the no. 2. capitalists of the world. As we all know, capitalism is all about money and while they can't do exactly as they want in the real world, they can do it on the internet. This needs to be stopped somehow.

Please tell me your thoughts.

[See You Latour]

I definitely think that the internet is something new and significant in the struggle. Exactly how and what it will contribute is a little more difficult to say. While the internet can be traced back to research conducted in the 60's, it did not become popularized until the 90's. Today, the internet is ubiquitous, and given the "social" nature of it, it deserves examination.

That said, part of the problem of the internet can somewhat be analogous to the rise of Starbucks and similar coffee houses. Both serve as community spaces (in the case of the internet, cyberspaces) where like minded individuals can congregate. They act sort of as a locus of communal activity. However, both are controlled by private business interests. The internet and Starbucks are spaces of public discourse, however, neither is publicly controlled.

So this becomes the problem with the internet. Business interests and the State collude to create the impression of free speech, when in fact, a web site can be shut down and taken to court for hosting meta-data (not actual files) which facilitates the acquisition of copyrighted materials without having to pay. There are other examples as well. The US government has also shut down Al Qaeda websites in the past.

And this also goes into the issue of net neutrality as well. Since the internet backbone is owned by private business (even though it was heavily subsidized by the US military) what they're trying to do is provide bandwidth based on pay, so you have to pay more for more bandwidth. This is different that what you pay a server for. It has to do with what a server has to pay to be connected to the internet. The problem is that those who control the backbone have their own websites, and since they control the backbone, these websites will not have the same bandwidth limitations. This makes the playing field very skewed in their favor.

So while I am no friend of Google, I can honestly say that I will side with them on the net neutrality issue. Ultimately, they are not the ones responsible for this travesty. But that's just net neutrality. Obviously there's plenty to not like about Google.

[The Idler]

Private property is an obstacle to freedom and the same goes for intellectual property on the internet. However the internet isn't so much troubling for capitalism (except capital based on intellectual property) as it is for states. Infoanarchism means that states can no longer exercise power over free expression or enforce intellectual property. Some people regard infoanarchism as a type of anarcho-capitalism where the emphasis is on smashing the state and not so much capital/property.

[revolution inaction]

I didn't know quite where to put this thread.

However, the question is:

What are your opinions on Infoanarchism and Anti-Copyright?

why do some idiots need to claim every fucking thing that do is a different kind of anarchism?

[WeAreReborn]

why do some idiots need to claim every fucking thing that do is a different kind of anarchism?
Totally agree. Because Kropotkin himself talks about copyrights and how limiting an idea is in essence a Capitalistic action. In an Anarchist society ideas would be spread and shared with all to better the society then the individual. So calling it InfoAnarchism is redundant since copyrights were already covered, at least by Kropotkin.