Independence

Independence is the theme of the weekend, and I think that now is in fact a critical time on the continuum of independence. In this case, I'm talking about independence from corporate control of information distribution.

One of the Internet's most profound features is its ability to enable almost anyone to publish almost anything they want. Technological advances and bandwidth increases now made it almost trivial for individuals to write, record, shoot, and then distribute their own stuff.

At the same time, political and social changes continue to weaken the large corporate institutions that have historically held the keys to distribution. The record industry bungled electronic distribution of content and has put itself in an adversarial position against many artists. From an artist's perspective, why sign a contract with a major label that takes away most of their rights over their material when they no longer need the power of a label to distribute their music?

Digital filmmaking and online distribution mean that movies can be made for hundreds or thousands of dollars instead of tens of millions.

High profile witch hunts in the world of traditional journalism (Dan Rather and CBS, Newsweek and the Koran, Time and The New York Times with regard to the Valerie Plame incident) show that these big institutions are weakening- just when independent journalists (bloggers) are gaining power.

This Fourth of July, it's easy to look at our place in the world with concern. But there is a strong undercurrent of independence that is is gaining strength, and no doubt in my mind that it's continuing to give power to the people.