In Ryan's last chapters, he discusses a few topics including the expansive globalization of the internet, how the internet has changed society not only politically but economically, and he also brought up the issue of sharing via the internet. Whether it's personal photos and documents, or downloaded music and movies we have has become accustomed to the transition to the digital era.
Do you remember going to the movie store to rent a VHS? Soon after it turned to DVD's, then quickly RedBox's popped up and lead to the closure of many movie stores. Do you think there are implications to the closure of movie stores being replaced with automated machines?
From my experience I can remember when I used to go to the movie store with my family and rent a few VHS's or DVD's and buy some popcorn or candy to eat while we watched. The experience definitely had a greater and more appreciative memory in my mind in comparison to when RedBox was the main way to rent movies. It used to be an adventure just going to the store and walking the isles to check out all the movies new and old. I enjoyed the physicality of it. I have so much frustration now when I go to the RedBox and it's not working or half the movies I want aren't even in stock.
Not only stock problems have occurred, but also business problems. Many of the movie stores in my area were locally owned. They provided jobs to a unique demographic that might not otherwise have had a job. Once they went out of business, the employees would have gone through a tough unemployment and these businesses were replaced with machines. It's not like the employees had a new job to explore.
In this day and age, movie rental is quickly turning to online rental or purchasing. We are able to easily download the most recent blockbuster films, and we usually don't even have to wait for it to come out on DVD. With online downloading comes the issue of piracy and illegal downloading. Our culture has become accustomed to this on many levels. We may not even realize it, but it is likely that all of us have contributed to piracy of media in some way, shape, or form.
The introduction of Napster lead to a whole new way of music sharing and downloading. While it quickly was destroyed for illegal piracy, Napster paved the way to the new method of music playing which was followed with the iPhone and iTunes. Today we uses sources such as Pandora or Spotify to listen to music. It opens up our library to almost any song out there.
With the availability of such a vast array of digital media, do you think you have committed piracy without thinking twice about it?
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