My Exploitation of Online Content - And its Validity

On any given morning - weekends especially - the first thing I do is turn on my laptop and visit certain websites that have piqued my interest over the years.

Critically recognized American newspapers like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post are usually first on my list. Next would come the Canadian nationals, The Globe and Mail, and - unfortunately, the only other national newspaper - The National Post. Then I will most likely venture into more regional territory with papers like The Toronto Star and the St. Catharines Standard.

Sometimes I will stop there, deeming my leeching need for news all but satiated. However, other times I will peruse the websites of some of my favourite magazines. Opinion pieces and long-form journalism are abound in both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Magazines like The Economist, Money, and Time are always informative and to-the-point. No journey is complete without stops at ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and Golf Digest.

I seemingly access websites like YouTube and Twitter multiple times throughout the day. "Following" the twitter accounts of those newspapers and magazines mentioned above allows me quick and easy access to myriad articles of choice. Extensive, and more importantly, free (access to the websites of The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and The Los Angeles Times are restricted by paywalls, however these are easy enough to get around) I exploit the Internet for information everyday.

Even more, I choose not to contribute or produce anything myself for two simple reasons: I do not possess the skills nor the desire to pursue the production of online content for marketable purposes (the only truly driving force behind the purpose of a nearly-graduated student).

We can see though the article by Toby Miller that labour often goes unrewarded in the online cultural commons. Miller avows that 'creative industries' are not panaceas for economic problems and gifts to cultural studies. Labour does play an important role both in the consumption and purpose of cultural content. Websites like PirateBay and the spectacularly named KickAssTorrents allow anyone access to free downloads of movies, television shows, eBooks and more. These are websites that help end-users exploit the control that "big media" looks to assert over online cultural content.

For Miller it is not necessarily a question of "big media" exploits but the exploits of the labour being endured by innovators around the world. This is a fair question and an important one in economic and remuneration terms. However, for me, as long as I have access to free content I will never pay for the same or similar content no matter how arduous the input of labour may have been; sound economics.

Lev Manovich's notion that we build our worlds and identities around readily available mass produced goods by using differing tactics is easily applicable to my use of both the Internet and the cultural commons that inhabits it. Manovich believes that the true challenge may lie in the constant innovation, energy, and unpredictability of the Web 2.0 Culture. As long as these dynamics remain the dynamics I look forward to more exploitation and indolence with regard to my online experience.

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