jxself.org

Will The War On Sharing Ever End?

Mon, 9 Apr 2012

While sharing seems to be in the media spotlight far more than ever before it is far from new. Without a doubt, advancements in technology have certainly made it easier but humans have been sharing with each other since the beginning of time. If statistics are to be believed, more and more people are sharing with each other.

Like the primates we evolved from, we're social creatures. Sharing is in our nature. It's part of being a good person. It's no wonder that as music, movies, software and other things began to exist, we started sharing those too. Continued advancements in technology will help to ensure that sharing will only ever get easier.

Despite this, there are people opposed to sharing and they try to introduce new technical and legal methods in an attempt to stop, or at least discourage, people from sharing. These technical measures usually have workarounds very shortly after being introduced and the legal methods either fail to become law, or are ignored if they do. It's no wonder, because these technical measures and laws go against the human nature to share. Even the ultimate penalty of death hasn't deterred people. People share things they like and have done so since the beginning of time.

Given their lack of success with technical and legal measures some of the people opposed to sharing are slowly working to change people's attitudes about sharing. They're trying to convince them that it's somehow wrong even though everyone should have learned as a child that sharing is good, but it seems that some people forget this as they get older. In effect, they're trying to change human nature itself.

The sad part is that they are they are to a remarkable extent succeeding. Instead of thinking that creative works are published for the benefit of -- and rightfully belong to -- everyone in the world I know several people that think otherwise. They hadn't even questioned it. It's just propaganda they've heard for most if not all of their lives and never questioned it.

So will the war on sharing ever truly be won? I am confident that we will one day prevail. It may take decades or even centuries but it will happen. An important first step is to recognize the propaganda for what it is and ignore it. Most people over a certain age will have memories of recording chart music as it was played on the radio and sharing it with their friends. This is no different from teenagers now who share songs online.