Blog Post #3

What are the most important "harms" that you, personally, see facing the ways intellectual property operating today, and how are those different from or similar to the harms faced by previous generations?

I think one of the biggest problems facing the ways intellectual property is operating today is the monopoly that the media is creating.

“…The different forms of media were owned by separate media companies. Now, the media is increasingly owned by only a few companies. Indeed, after the changes that the FCC announced in June 2003, most expect that within a few years, we will live in a world where just three companies control more than 85 percent of the media” (Lessig, 2004).

With such a small amount of people controlling what everybody sees, biased opinions are more likely to be used. Lessig also touches on the fact that controversial ads are going to be regulated even more. While sometimes this can be a good thing, as in to not offend anyone or any group of people, too much concentration silences the smaller opinions. Allowing only a few people (those who run the media) to control what all of the viewers are allowed to see isn’t necessarily the safest thing when it comes to expressing an individual opinion.

In my generation, we basically grew up on the developing internet and other technology resources. We are able to share and learn about more information at the tip of our fingertips. Earlier generations didn't have the ease of information that we do today. Now, we can search a few words and come up with a whole piece of research someone has been working on. 

In previous generations, publishing companies were the ones to produce the work to the public and try to get more people to read it. They raised the prices of books and research information so the creator, as well as the publisher, would get the money they deserved. When the internet came about, the need for the publisher lessened. They aren't absolutely necessary, since authors can directly publish their work online. This should greatly lower the price of books and textbooks, but since we're in a transitional phase, it's going to take more work.

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print.