Libraries and file-sharing do not differ in principle. The purpose of libraries was – is – to make culture and knowledge available to as many as possible, as efficiently as possible, for free – simply because of the greater socioeconomic benefit of an educated and cultural populace. How is this not file-sharing?
Great article that sums up very nicely how I feel about the topic.
Ultimately, both the public library and torrents are ways of making cultural knowledge available for free to a wide number of citizens. Yes, one method is *way* more efficient than the other but isn’t that the impact technology is having in every industry to one degree or another?
We have built the most amazing public library ever created. All of humanity is able to access the collective culture and knowledge of all of humanity, twenty-four by seven, as well as contribute to that collective pool. All the tools are already in place, all the infrastructure already rolled out, all the training already completed. Not a single tax penny needs to be spent to accomplish this. The only thing we need to do is to remove the ban on using it.
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