I have been a nanny for over 5 years. In that time, I have been overwhelmed countless time by the information that young kids know and how much they can do with computers. After reading this week’s assigned chapters in We the Media, some of my nanny experiences were sparked in my memory.
As most people know, and as the book clearly explains, the music and entertainment industries have had a hell of a time trying to regulate copyrights of artist’s work. And though there are things being done to stop people from burning cd’s and dvd’s or illegally downloading music or pirated movies, there are still numerous ways to get around the rules. If you try hard enough and know the right people, you can pretty much access anything online, often for free.
Kids that have grown up in the internet generation have no idea what life was like before this crazy, advanced technology. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just VERY different from the world people my age grew up in. Though I’m only 22, I still remember learning to type on tiny mac computers that didn’t show any color other than white and green. Kids these days do everything with technology. Listen to music with ipods, watch DVD’s in the car, text message, blog, etc. Since they haven’t known anything different, why would they want to PAY for their music or movies, when they can just burn them for free???
So, the media industry can try to regulate all they want, but in my opinion, they need to start targeting the younger kids and sending a clear message that it is WRONG to illegally download or steal entertainment from online sources. Sadly, I don’t see them making any major changes anytime soon. People are still going to steal stuff online, because they can and the internet is way too big to control everything.
In response to Kathy’s question for this week: Should political/news bloggers have a code of ethics? My opinion = Yes. Is that realistic? NO. Part of why blogs have been so successful is because of the freedom and creativity that you can use while writing a blog. So, yes I do believe that people who post things online should be ethical and report the truth, but this is not going to ever happen. Why? There’s always going to be those journalists who are just looking to report on a hot subject and don’t care if they “stretch” the truth a little. Also, good journalists know that in order to up their readership they need gossip news and topics that readers are interested in. Most writers, especially those who casually write on their own blogs don’t care if they’re being ethical or not – they want to write what they want and have people read it.
All I can say is, I’m glad it’s not my job to regulate the internet and keep everything ethical.
1.) What are your privacy concerns with cookies on your computer? How do you think they will affect marketing strategies for businesses?
2.) How do you feel about the Chinese government regulating what sites their nation’s users can access on the internet? If America did that to it’s citizens, what would the implications be? How would our media change?
