Jazzper™

Social medians and Internet gurus - all a bunch of pirates?

I am a bit amazed by the fact that most of the bigger social media and web 2.0 blogs and profiles seem to be pro illegal file sharing and sometimes even call themselves pirates. I do understand that these guys are in the front-line of Internet development and Internet technology and therefore naturally have a great interest in an open Internet. But it amazes me that these guys are also business men and are probably from time to time struggling with copyright issues concerning their own businesses. Perhaps it is just me who is a bit old-fashioned. I am wondering how many of these guys have pirated software, music and movies in their computers. Probably most of them, if I can take a guess.

 I can't help but think about the fact that at the same time as they enjoy reviewing and writing about commercial software and apps, they are also illegally downloading the very same apps via various P2P sites. Bloggers who are dreaming of a career in blogging about social media, new technology and gadgets, know how hard it is to make a living from it. Only a small percentage might be that lucky. It is not much different from being a hard working musician who tries to sell his or her music in order to make a living. In a way they are both entrepreneurs. But is the "new" entrepreneur in such a financial crisis that it would be impossible for them to buy all things needed in order to get their ideas selling?

I am puzzled by this and I can't make any sense out of it. If a daily newspaper would have their journalists downloading the latest movies for reviewing, it would unleash hell. Some of the big Internet tech blogs are big enough to call themselves professionals, but I wonder if there is a difference between professional blogger and a journalist. If bloggers still are "protected" by the idea of blogging as a tool to reach out to the world, and blogging is still not considered to be "real" media. I would say that perhaps it is time to draw a line somewhere, where a blogger becomes a professional and therefore should also follow the ethics and the code of conduct of a professional journalist/media. This line could be based on how many readers and hits the blog has and how much money the blog generates. If this was the case, it would be very unsuitable for these blogs to call themselves pirates, to encourage illegal file sharing and instead behave as the professionals they are. Today these sites have written all over themselves " We are pro net piracy" and I just can't make any sense out of it. They should know better.

Social Networks and deceased members

Today in one of the biggest and most respected Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter (DN), brings forward the question of social networks and how they deal with members who are deceased. I recall news a year ago or so about Facebook refusing to remove a profile page of a deceased person and I remember being quite upset about that. Voices were raised talking about profile pages being used as a form of condolence books, which might be the case sometimes. Still I think it is very disrespectful of Facebook to not even wanting to discuss the matter (which happened that time).

A couple of months ago a young teenage girl was brutally murdered in Sweden by two other teenagers in a complex love drama. Young people deal with deaths differently than adults and the presence of a deceased friend on the Internet can be both devastating and even comforting in times of grieving. But at the end of the day parents and family should have the last say and social networks should respect their wishes. Acting differently as a big social network is disrespectful and very sad. What it also does is indeed to emphasise the fact that Facebook and other social networks do own the lives of their members and when thinking about deceased members, it turns really ugly. The fact that respect for life isn't something Facebook wants to deal with is disturbing. Respect for life must in all situations stand above a silly Terms of Service.