That thought that we just numbed ourselves with TV for the past 4 decades got me thinking about how that really was the basis for consumer culture. So I’ve been using the term “producer culture” in much the same way you’re talking about Contribution Society.

Couper les cheveaux en quatre? Bien sur.

I jumped over here from slacktivist. Basically, I agree with you; while copyright, patent, trademark and similar “intellectual property” laws were originally designed to protect individual contributions to society, they have been coopted as ways to steal from genuinely creative folks in the name of profit. In many cases today, the people who actually created the works cannot do what they want because some corporation owns part or all of the copyright.

The new edition of Utne talks about this in depth, especially in relation to how South American govts and artists are trying to buck the corporate tide by using more shareware, “commons” licenses, etc.

Bob, what you say is true in theory. There are certainly quite a few ethical wealthy people who DO make great contributions to society, but in practice a lot of wealth sits in the hands of people who got their money by taking from society, by manipulating people, and by playing what amount to legal shell games. To them, what they own is simply a tool for amassing greater wealth and power, not one for giving back to the community that made their wealth possible. Although sometimes they do give to other people, their intent is anything but generous.