Apparently times are hard over at ECN Magazine. Rather than come up with compelling content to draw people in, its Technical Editor decided to pen the mother of all troll-baiting editorials. NSILMike points us to Jason Lomberg’s recent rant on The Internet Entitlement Mentality, which I think may set a record for repeating pretty much every long-debunked fallacy about online content and business models, as well as how it describes those folks who actually understand basic economics, and how free works as part of an economic ecosystem. It’s really not worth debunking all those points over again. Honestly, reading it makes me wonder if it’s pure satire instead of troll-bait, given the number of old debunked cliches it tosses out. I mean, you name it, it’s got it. Unauthorized access is “theft,” the publishing and music industries are dying, other business models simply cannot fund stuff, paywalls will solve everything for newspapers, and suing music fans is a reasonable solution. It’s all in there.
But as I read it, it again made me wonder which is the real “entitlement mentality”? Is it those who recognize what the technology enables and uses that to better share and spread culture and information? Or is it those who insist that business models should go back to the way things used to be, and that governments should change and enforce laws to prop up those failing business models? It seems like you could make a very strong case that it’s the latter position that is the true “entitlement mentality.”
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
