Well Lessig so far has made it sound like he's most interested in corruption in public policy debates. Possibly his efforts in the IP realm have sometimes been made impossible by such corruption, so he thinks that sort of thing needs fixing to make large amounts progress on other fronts like intellectual property. Problem is 'corruption' means many things, and could concievably lead him into the realms of all things political, psychological, all of human history, the nature of money and power, to name but a few. Who knows where he will end up focusing. Some of the comments on his blog are very interesting, people are bringing up everything from conspiracy theories to the state of venezuela, global warming, why democracy is broken.
Boggers, vloggers etc getting paid to shill or whatever, doesnt seem to have been the focus of much that he's said so far. Its something that interests me, at the very least because back when people were loudly gushing about the promise of blogs etc, there was some talk of how these things can free us from the corrupt and/or distorted mass media. Well thats possible, but to me its always seemed just as likely that vloggers or bloggers could be paid to put across certain positions, just as much as happens in the big system. If anything the indie's need the cash even more, and some may not have had the time, education or opportuniy to reflect on these issues, or such things may just not be a part of their world, clearly different people have very different standards. There have been occasional conversations about codes of conduct, or discussions about specific incidents. Plenty of examples of people vlogging to promote other interests, be they paid directly or received some less direct benefit. I could sit around all day questioning some peoples motives. Sometimes the motives are upfront, sometimes hidden. There are vloggers who would sell out if they had the opportunity. There are those who have never even thought of doing such things, and I assume plenty of people for whom their personal code is far more complex than a simple question of 'sellout or not'? I would guess most people would be happy to be paid to blog or vlog in a range of ways, and would have their own personal line they wouldnt cross. And some people can convince themselves that they believe what they are saying, even when it is an opinion that they've been paid to believe & spread. Personally I have big issues with the whole culture of advertising etc, so Im out on a limb somewhere on these issues, but recognize that most people cant afford to be. So for example if I get off my ass and do this carbondown vlog & community group site properly, I'll be placing the credibility of the site far above its ability to raise any money. Especially in the new age of green washing, 99% of potential advertisers and sponsors would probably not get past my test for whether they are part of the problem or part of the solution. So even if the site was any good, I'll probably still starve trying to do it fulltime instead of a job. And I certainly dont think everyone should try to meet such standards, its for each to choose what behaviour they think is acceptable. I still watch all sorts of stuff that may have been influenced by money, I just treat it will a little more skepticism than I would a more natural expression of human opinion. Credibility is a funny thing, there are many ways to lose it, and different people need different amounts to suceed in their chosen role. Wolfowitz became untennable at the World Bank because he made a big thing of fighting corruption, which meant he couldnt be seen to do something corrupt himself. The ba is not set at that level for anything, some bloggers and vloggers will get away with all sorts of direct and indirect shilling etc, and it may not matter at all. The Amnda Congdon Dupont thing may not have been a fatal blow to her career, but a similar thing could be career suicide for someone else at some point, someone who requires credibility of a certain kind to function in their chosen realm. Anyway who knows, it could all go round in a circle for Lessig if his journey into public policy corruption leads him to the state of the minds of the masses, which leads him to the mass media, which could lead him back to the internet and the masses contributing instead of just being passive viewers. Cheers Steve Elbows --- In [email protected], Irina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > oh sthing like this? > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uy5D08ap8Y > > On 6/21/07, Irina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > this is why my boss at podtech, robert scoble and i, have differing stance > > on "paid content" > > i have never done paid content as far as i can remember, tho i suppose > > a video i did at "under the radar" could be considered pr for that > > conference, > > tho i didnt ge tpaid for taht :) > > > > On 6/21/07, Steve Watkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > At this stage he appears to mean 'paid to promote a stance'. > > > > > > I guess it will evolve, good luck to him, not an easy can of worms to > > > open. The quest for an absolute truth, unimpinged by humans own > > > self-interest, can lead down some interested cul-de-sacs. > > > > > > Steve Elbows > > > > > > --- In [email protected] <videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com>, > > > Irina <irinaski@> wrote: > > > > > > > > can someone say in like 5 words what he means by "corruption" > > > > > > > > On 6/20/07, Markus Sandy <markus.sandy@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > wow! > > > > > > > > > > just got this via JD ... > > > > > > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > > > > > > > > > From: JD Lasica <jdlasica@ <jdlasica%40gmail.com>> > > > > > > Date: June 20, 2007 10:24:34 PM PDT > > > > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <SpinFlow%40yahoogroups.com><SpinFlow%40yahoogroups.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > Subject: [SpinFlow] Of some interest ... > > > > > > > > > > > > Dan Gillmor: Lessig Switches Career Gears, Takes Aim at > > > Corruption. > > > > > > > > > > > > http://citmedia.org/blog/2007/06/20/lessig-switches-career-gears- > > > > > > takes-aim-at-corruption/ > > > > > > > > > > > > jd > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > http://tools.ourmedia.org/blog > > > > > http://SpinXpress.com/Markus_Sandy > > > > > http://Ourmedia.org/Markus_Sandy > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > http://geekentertainment.tv > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > http://geekentertainment.tv > > > > > -- > http://geekentertainment.tv > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
