[P2P-F] Unions for Immaterial Production?

Sat Feb 26 01:55:13 CET 2011

On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:39 AM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius at gmail.com> wrote:
> The effectiveness of collective bargaining has always been threatened
> by independent peers who are willing to accept lower wages and endure
> poor working conditions.

Study the phenomenon of sourceforge.net during the time of the
Internet boom of the late 1990's and early 2000's and how open-source
popularity got co-opted mostly by the legal system, big companies like
Microsoft, and dubious notions of "intellectual property";
collectively, they effectively retro-graded the free Internet into
little fiefdoms and walled gardens we have today.  Then look at
yourself:  are you using a free operating system?  or have you gotten
seduced by Apple (for ex.)?  Read the essays at the Free Software
Foundation by Richard Stallman to see how the GPL has been
specifically battle-hardened to avoid these traps.  Also, the E.F.F.
-- review J. P. Barlow's Declaration of Internet Freedom to remind
yourself that the power of the Internet still lies waiting.  Give
money.  They remain true to the vision and haven't sold out like the
others.  Never mind if Stallman seems eccentric or E.F.F. seems like a
ghost town -- these are people doing real work and don't have energy
to spend "flashing it up" for you.

(....then look at pangaia.sf.net to see a long-term solution ;)

Marcos