Thanks to a regular reader for linking to this article in Scientific American. Were I to stop writing this blog today, this would not be a bad final note to leave because it very succinctly describes how the pursuit of targeted advertising (i.e. the brass ring of Web 2.0) has fostered a design that creates an illusion of choice. While the Web industry promotes messages of populism, individual opportunity, and innovation, the truth is the money is all predicated on organizing the market (that’s us) into a limited number of paths based on data mining our profiles. Anyone who buys into the notion that the Web is all about elevating the rights of the many over the power of the privileged few should consider what this article implies and perhaps question why it is the Web seems to foster at least temporary monopolies in any given category.
Subscribe to the Blog via email
Latest Posts
Top Posts
- The Mugshot Heard ‘round the World
- Chabon v. Chatbot: About those ‘Shadow Libraries’
- Is IP Utilitarian or a Natural Right?
- ReDigi Is Not About Consumer Rights
- Generative AI Goes to the Opera
- Video: Panel Discussion on the Outcome in Google v. Oracle
- Google v. Oracle: A Troubling Use of Fair Use
- Google v. Oracle VII: Google’s Gaslight Defense, A Lesson From the Age of Melodrama
- Google v. Oracle III – Popularity Does Not Overturn Copyright
- When Fair Use Threatens the Derivative Works Right
Archives
Browse Topics
Sites I Follow
- All Rights Reserved Blog
- Carrie A. Goldberg
- Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property
- Content Café
- Copyhype
- Copyright Alliance
- Copyright and Technology
- Copyright Clearance Center Blog
- Copyright Lately
- CreativeFuture
- Hugh Stephens
- Intangiblia™
- Jaron Lanier
- Mike Katell
- Music Technology Policy
- Neil Turkewitz
- Stephen Carlisle
- The Cynical Musician
- The Trichordist
- VOX Indie
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
– Daniel J. Boorstin