ZDNet on my.mp3.com."The battle over MyMP3.com, Robertson argues, will settle whether consumers have a legal right to play music they have purchased on whatever device they choose." The RIAA does not concur, and is suing MP3.com for royalty damages on all the CD's posted on my.mp3.com, which apparently easily exceeds their market value. Ouch.
David Grenier posted some interesting thoughts and good questions about community to the discussion group.
I responded.
idea: A collection of inter-connected autonomous sites creates a sort of ecological filter, not unlike open source, where sites that are of interest to others rise to the top of the pile by recieving links, and those who don't, stay on the periphery. I'm not saying this is ideal, but it is better than having the collective space be brought down by bozos with big mouths and no accountability.
Mnemonic, a little known GPL browser initiative, keeps plugging along. See their recent screenshots.
Here's a good business model. pssst. read this, it's funny.
"Bill can conquer the world but he can't move anybody's heart"
I added iRights and Retrogression to the links above.
Wired on 5k design contest: "The more constraints there are, the more creative people become." Amen.
If being spoofed is a sign of success, then Dave Winer must be doing all right.
Addendum to yesterday's piece: While reflecting on the idea of the tragedy of the commons, more and more instances of flamers and trolls bringing a community to its knees come to mind. Hotwired's Threads, post-critical mass Slashdot, the Bitch Page, Usenet, various mailing lists... it seems like everywhere on the net where there are not set standards or authority, it's seen as an open invitation to wise asses who think they are doing the world a favour by provoking everyone with a strong opinion. Bummer, but also something of a unavoidable thing given the net's present condition and population.
So what to do? Change the structure of interaction. Much like architecture, computers give us the power to restructure how we interact, relate, and think, and do it much more easily than in meatspace.
Thought: maybe a corollary to meatspace should be meetspace. Meetspace being where interaction takes place, whether online or off - the distinction matters less and less.