Re[2]: <nettime> Terror in Tune Town

[Pit Schultz <pit@klubradio.de>]

TS> its a power game, as far as i understand it.

yes. and so far i only understand that digital code doesn't work the old
way, where power was about disciplination. now its about the modes of
control it says. i think gaining power out of digital code lays in it's
rematerialization. encryption for example is "hardening" code, other modes
define the individual, scan what codes go in and out. the third kind, and
maybe the strongest one is perception management, the
propaganda-spectacle. napster, in the end of the day, got a lot of press,
a lot of hits, and therefore has a lot of "value". temporary freedom, yes.
endless supply, yes.  destruction first, reconstruction after. very modern
indeed.  we are all part of this process. 

napters management, like at mp3.com is making deals with the old powers,
and finally in a big embracement, a "hybrid"  of old and new (music
industry) is emerging, where sales do not go down, and a little percentage
of grey zones is good for the business. all that hype - i really can't
understand it.  napster marks nothing more then the spear-head of digital
capitalism, where new business models occur because friction between old
and new is at the max. so what? who wants to read business plans all day?
and who wants to download 40 Gigs of mp3s when the next standard (aac) is
just waiting around the corner? 

isn't copyright law a derivative law? intellectual property is not written
down in any constitution, it's constantly changing, and belongs more to
contract things like the nafta. just for a moment it seems that computer
code is stronger then law, here the understanding will change, is already
changing, to IP becoming a plain commodity, even under a more processual
definition: mental labour or the smoothly shifting regime going under the
name of "bio power".  this is about much more advanced forms of control
and competition including open source and gift giving battles. 

or why does 90% of nettime postings of these days route back to some kind
of online journalism? it's the dumpness of 'actuality' which sucks - not
the yes or no to copyright it's the lack of hard differences in this
one-world, a deep demand for "real" information which makes us want to
download more? 

and file-sharing as a killer-application? all what is new is the wide use
of a central/distributed directory service with an easy interface.
hotline/trecker was certainly what inspired napster plus the warez djungle
of temp-ftp-sites.  there is nothing radically new if you carefully
observe what is happening - it doesn't make a difference when the press or
lawyers are banging in. 

anyway, this thread was really fun to read! 





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