[iDC] Introduction: The Internet as Playground and Factory

[Trebor Scholz]

Sure, Biella, add piracy to that list. I hope that the conference and this
discussion will contribute a positive critique that also points to "lived
alternatives." In addition to piracy, this is where I'd start:

Profit sharing
(i.e., YouTube's Partner Program, Google's Adsense, Amazon's Affiliate
Program) 

Greed-free businesses
(i.e., Craig's List and perhaps Etsy)

Peer-to-peer projects

Modes of cooperation and collaboration cultivated by Free software groups
 
Various forms of self-organization (unionization?)

Sabotage and protest

Art
(i.e., Chris Barr's Work Place Interruptions http://interruptions.org)

Projects that support user rights (i.e., http://dataportability.org)

Future public media
(i.e., Ellen Goodman's work http://is.gd/TkIz)

-The refusal to participate is not on my list.-

>But it is about the need to recgonize the relative autonomy (or more or
>much less autonomous) form of publics and counterpublics, a social form
>that he traces back to the rise of the reading public. Today while
>mainstream public have been fully colonized by capital, some publics
>have seen a revitalization in certain quarters as well (the argument of
>Kelty's recurive public, comes to mind).

There are small and important niches of (more or less) autonomous publics
but the Web is thoroughly colonized by capital and most sociality --
including that of many activist groups-- takes place on privately owned
'platforms.' 

Trebor