THE YOUNG ARE COMMING!
Hello,
I was recently in Cuba where internet services (and computers for that matter) are unavailable to the general population, available in very limited ways to universities (Facebook was available to some of my university professor friends but I guess it must have been banned recently because I haven't been able to get in touch with them of late), and available to tourists at outrageous prices per minute in special government supervised facilities. The result of all this is that Cubans are extremely ignorant of what is going on in the world. Also they genuinely believe that the CIA has released hoards of deadly fish called the "lion fish" so that it is very dangerous to swim in non government cleansed beaches; they are convinced that they are in possession of medical knowhow and techniques so advanced that they are able to cure almost all of the diseases that the West simply cannot cure; and they believe that the growth rate of their GNP per annum is around 25% and, were it not for the American boycott it would be twice that. That's just for starters. But Fidel is on the way out 'cause he's dying... And his baby brother Raul is also an old man and he will soon die too...

Of course all cultures, not just Cuban Communists or Islamic dictatorships ruled by decrepid bullies, have myths and also definitions of what kind of thing is considered offensive and unacceptable and should be banned from the web. The Americans think they know what freedom is (and right, and truth, and happiness, and reality)s and that everyone who does not agree with them is not only wrong but should be taught the truth, by force if necessary... and yes, they also ban internet content and web pages that modern "American mainstream culture" considers offensive or terrorism or whatnot... an it's ok. Jews think they are handpicked by God and they also think some internet content should be banned, especially that dealing with antisemitism, Jewish conspiracy theories and such like... and that's ok too. Islamic fundamentalists (I don´t include those that endorse killing others in the name of Allah) think only they are right... and that's ok....Catholics believe they know the one true formula to access Heaven and that all those who do not share their religion are doomed to burn in Hell, and in the name of morality they lobby to ban abortion information, stories or complaints about child abusing priests...and so on and so forth... and that's ok. Mexicans love their cock fights and bull fights and including in their rodeos activities which have been banned by the US cowboy association...and that's ok. Argentinians believe that they have the best food, the most beautiful women, the best looking men, the best music, the best lovemaking techniques, the best soccer players and the worst political system in the whole world... and if it was up to them they would ban all non-argentinian soccer information from the web... and that's ok. And most Middle Eastern nations are dictatorships... so ok.

Any moral issue is tricky, because what may be a right for one is murder for another (take abortion for example), and what may be a religious command for one is terrorism for another (Jihad for instance). And one can never forget that most of the worst crimes against humanity have been commited in the name of morality (God, social or political or economic ideology, religion and in the belief that one is right and all the others wrong or that one is moral and all the others immoral).

The same is true for the Google dilema stated above and for things like copyright. Give the options, provide the platform, and if someone doesn't want one or another thing, well so what. The latest thing now, as your publication amply shows, is the copyright wars and the banning or regulating, not so much of content, but of access to content in the internet.

In relation specifically to music copyright, if you look at the small picture, at the personal individual interests of different groups and their members, it is impossible to determine who's right and who's wrong because all have a piece of the truth but none have the whole truth:

There are the hardliners (basically the giant entertainment corporations) who are for punishing infringing websites mercilessly in the name of protecting what they call intellectual property (which in their book is the same as any other kind of property), beat their children for downloading songs which they call stealing and sue anyone who says otherwise, including the boyscouts for singing copyrighted songs at camp. The big film studios, the big five music companies, the publishers, the mainstram media empires, the software producers and the governments behind them, (the Europeans a bit less so than the Americans) favor this line of action, an it is hard to know whether or not pretty soon we'll all be drowned in legal fees or paying copyright taxes to private companies and rights management groups right and left.

There are also those who, with varying degrees of fury oppose punishment for those who either provide free access to content or provide the platforms which enable users to access content freely:

At the soft end you find Copyleft, Creative Commons, Megaupload, Lessing and others who lobby for a different kind of copyright more suitable for the digital age, which propose the abolishment of intermediaries (collective management groups, publishers, record companies, etc.) between creator and consumer; who do not view intellectual property on the same terms as other kinds of property and who are looking for new ways to look at the problem of how to reimburse creators for their work without having to pay the very high price of losing freedom. Where this trend is leading, it's hard to know but independent musicians are beginning to realize that those rights management groups (BMI, ASCAP and all their equivalents the world over) have been collecting money on their behalf for decades claiming to represent all authors and composers, and not paying them their dues.

At the hard end of these you find those who lobby for free access to information and free culture, lobby for the abolishment of copyright and patents altogether (especially medical patents) and even form religions such as Kopimism, and political parties such as Pirate Bay, The Pirate Party International and more yet to come. Let's not forget that Switzerland has decriminalized all filesharing, streaming and downloading of copyrighted material, Sweden has accepted Kopimi as an official religion, the Pirate Party has won elections is several European countries and they continue to grow among the young, technologically literate citizens of the world. Where this trend will lead is hard to know, but it is growing in strength every minute. Some unknown musicians and composers, for instance, want their works to be copied and reproduced.

On what side one is, depends on a number of factors ranging from economic, to age, to internet knowhow, to power, to political, to religious, to social, to generational, to geographical, even circumstantial (some composers for example would like to participate in several copyright schemes or to be able to change from one scheme to another depending on how well known they are or what song they are talking about) But this is very hard in most countries because the law (not national and not the OMPI, nor CISAC statutes) does not protect independent musicians, only those that are affiliated to some rights management organization ... So what is the solution?

Internet makes us a global community, a virtual nation of many colors and many faiths and many interests and many rights and many ages and the young control it. Nothing and no one goes unchallenged and the big picture and plurality tends to swallow myopic worldviews. Gone are the days of no copyright and where artists had no rights and did what they love for no money. Gone are the days where king, dictator, emperor or church or lord had a monopoly on truth and right. Gone are the days where individual interests superseded the interests of humanity as a whole.

And in the age of internet and computers, gone are the days of publishers and record companies and rights management organizations taking the lion's share of the money in the name of free enterprise or whatever. Gone are the days where only successful composers made it and the rest were condemned to silence and poverty. Gone are the days where adults defined what was right and youngsters obeyed without questioning because today literacy and knowledge means being at home in the internet and its technology.

Youngsters, as the main consumers of music and the main users of internet and the main creators of new technology are defining the future of copyright. So no matter how much us baby boomers hate it, and how much it may affect the traditional way of doing things, and how much we cling to the idea that songs are like underpants because they belong to us and us only.

Maybe if most of us look at the big picture and put our heads together, we can come out with something that does justice for all. The young have made the internet theirs. We won't be able to fight them forever.