Epeus' epigone

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Monday, 29 April 2002

Silent Theft

Silent Theft is a new book campaigning for the concept of the commons:
It should be stressed that protecting the commons is about maintaining a balance, not bashing business. It is self-evident that we need markets. It is far less clear -- particularly to businesses operating within markets -- that we also need commons. A society in which every transaction must be mediated by the market, in which everything is privately owned and strictly controlled, will come to resemble a medieval society -- a world of balkanized fiefdoms in which every minor satrap demands tribute for the right to cross his land or ford his streams. The flow of commerce and ideas -- and the sustainability of innovation and democratic culture - will be seriously impeded. Furthermore, such a market-dominated society is not likely to cultivate the sense of trust and shared commitments that any functioning society must have.

So the issue is not market versus commons. The issue is how to set equitable and appropriate boundaries between the two realms - semi-permeable membranes --so that the market and the commons can each retain its integrity while invigorating the other. That equilibrium is now out of balance as businesses try to exploit all available resources, including those that everyone owns and uses in common.

This sounds promising; there is a problem of commons over-reach too...
Posted by Kevin Marks at 17:34

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About Me

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Kevin Marks
Kevin Marks works on IndieWeb and open web tech. From 2011 to 2013 he was VP of Open Cloud Standards at Salesforce. From 2009 to 2010 he was VP of Web Services at BT. From 2007 to 2009, he worked at Google on OpenSocial. From 2003 to 2007 he was Principal Engineer at Technorati responsible for the spiders that make sense of the web and track millions of blogs daily. He has been inventing and innovating for over 25 years in emerging technologies where people, media and computers meet. Before joining Technorati, Kevin spent 5 years in the QuickTime Engineering team at Apple, building video capture and live streaming into OS X. He was a founder of The Multimedia Corporation in the UK, where he served as Production Manager and Executive Producer, shipping million-selling products and winning International awards. He has a Masters degree in Physics from Cambridge University and is a BBC-qualified Video Engineer. One of the driving forces behind microformats.org, he regularly speaks at conferences and symposia on emergent net technologies and their cultural impact.
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