Cyberculture, commons and informational feudalism

Abstract

The expansion of information networks consolidated the key elements of cyberculture, the remix and many collaborative practices. It also weakened the copyright and the brokerage industry. Exploring this scenario, the following exposure seeks to identify opposed trends in cyberspace between access to “free culture” and the imposition of a “permission culture.” With Lessig, Benkler and Smiers points of view it contextualizes the tension between creative possibilities of networks and the stiffening on the symbolic goods property rules. It evaluates Drahos and Braithwaite proposal of information feudalism as one of the most important projects in reconfiguring science and culture development and control, and which are the consequences of this control. It shows how this trend coexists with the idea of commons, one of the most important dimensions of cyberculture.