Web 2.0: digital sharecropping?

[markgritter]

Seth Finkelstein (who did a lot of good work on censorware) writes the Infothought blog. Lately he's been getting rather cranky about "manipulators who peddle the illusion of citizen involvement, but offer nothing but digital sharecropping". This includes getting in a slapfight about Wikimedia and its search engineI'm not sure I can do justice to

Comments

[hex_16]

It may well be that some sites advertise more than they can deliver. It may even be the case that web 2.0 manages to purchase for "free" work that could attract a better price elsewhere, or information that has more value than its provider realizes. But I think that the transaction offered by user-created content is fundamentally sound in a way that the earlier P2P proposition was not.

Based on the article, Mr. Finklestein sounds like a bitter socialist (writing for The Guardian? Perish the thought!) You make a good point in that people are getting back something in exchange for their labor. It's just that the author doesn't think it's "fair". It's an attitude I perceive as "Compensation as entitlement." Here are some examples (probably exposing my laissez-faire economic philosophy, but still food for thought