My unanswered question at EBE07

During the Q&A at the end of my talk, an attendee asked a lengthy question, which my interpreter seemed, for some reason, unable to summarize.  So the question went unanswered, something I hate to do.

A few minutes ago, a bilingual member of the audience explained that the the attendee noted my contention that social media was disrupting virtually all institutions including business, government, education and the media. He wanted to know how I balanced this against the issues of copyright protection, laws, invasions of individual privacy, DRM, etc.

I'm sorry I was unable to answer.  I had been able to understand what he was asking, I would have told him that large organizations are acting as they always do as they retreat in power and position.  They hide behind walls of legislation and litigation. We are in an era when the recording industry is suing its customers; when telephone carriers are trying to get the US Congress to deny poor people equal access to the Internet and cable companies are bring billion dollar suits against innovators like Google.

The effect of all this is that they effectively delay the inevitable. They make billions of dollars as they slow the rate of their own decline. But in the end, innovation wins. In the end, open will be closed, less expensive will defeat more expensive and those who use power to serve the institutions at te expense of consituents will be the losers.

If someone reads this post and can translate it to the person who asked the question, I would very much appreciate it.

Comments

[Douglas Karr]

Brilliant response, Shel! It really is the ultimate equalizer, though, isn't it?

[Luis Rull]

HI Shel: The guy is called Adolfo Estalella, and he is at estalella.wordpress.com

[shel israel]

Hola Luis. Adolfo & I met after I posted it and had a very pleasant chat. He thinks I am too optimistic. I am hopeful that he will become less pessimistic.

[benito]

Hi Shel

Hope you are enjoyed your visit to Seville/a as much as we did.

Best. Benito

[benito]

Hi Shel

Hope you are enjoyed your visit to Seville/a as much as we did.

Best. Benito

[shel israel]

Benito,

This event was a real high point in my journey. Thanks so muchto you for having me here. It was terrifico.

[det]

The translation to Spanish goes like this:

Las grandes organizaciones están actuando como lo hacen siempre que pierden poder y posición: se esconden detrás de muros de legislación y litigios. Esta mos en un época en la que la industria discográfica demanda a sus consumidores; en la que las compañías telefónicas intentan lograr que el Congreso de Estados Unidos les niegue el acceso igualitario a Internet a las personas de escasos recursos, una era en la que las compañías de teléfono están llevando adelante demandas billonarias contra innovadores como Google.

El efecto de todo esto es que están postergando lo inevitable. Están ganando millones de dólares mientras frenan su tasa de declinación. Pero a la larga, la innovación gana. A la larga, lo abierto se cierra, lo barato vence a lo caro y aquellos que usan el poder para servir a las instituciones a expensas de los constituyentes serán los perdedores.

See you!