I am the father of a 14 year old, and it is wild. We have our good days and our bad ones, and the lockdown was hard for all of us, but I learn new stuff from my kid every single day.
Iāve been writing about the intersection of parenting and my kidās digital life since she was two years old, and from the start, Iāve been clear on one thing: itās impossible to completely control how my kid uses digital tech, and so the best I can hope for is to teach her to be as safe as possible, and to cultivate a trusting relationship with her so that when (not if) she gets in over her head, sheāll come to me so I can help her figure it out.
Authorās Note: This short story was originally commissioned by Deakin College as part of an AI ethics course; they have since take it down. This is its new home. For a nonfiction analysis of the problems set forth herein, see my Guardian column on the subject. Hereās an audio edition.
Chokepoint Capitalism is my next book, co-written with the brilliant copyright scholar Rebecca Giblin. Itās a book about how the markets for creative labor were rigged, and how artists, fans, tinkerers, regulators and lawmakers can unrig them.
That second part is key: this isnāt just a book complaining about how tough things are for artistsāāāitās a book about how we can make things better.
Thereās an obvious reason that our bookās focus on shovel-ready projects to put more money in artistsā pockets is important: youād have to be a monster to prefer a world that underpays the writers, musicians, actors, and film and TV creators whose work heartens and delights you.
But thereās another reason that this focus on fixing creative labor markets is so important: because copyright, the primary tool weāve given creators to give them power over their labor, has actually made things worse. Continue reading "What is Chokepoint Capitalism?"