Stealing Wi-Fi and the Collective Content Creation Model
I'm chilling this Sunday morning with the NYTimes online and came across two stories of note.

The first, "Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless" worries me. What if my neighbors read it and decide to learn how to close their network? I'm at the coffee shop now, paying for wifi with my cup of coffee, but at home I catch the trickle coming off a neighbor's wireless router.

I think I'd feel worse about it if I got more than one bar of speed and accessibility. It's slooooow.

However, the article got me reflecting - is this rampant theft (is it theft if they're not using it?) or do internet providers need to move towards a free/ad sales model, treating internet access more like radio/television and then let us marketers support the cost?

Is a bit-torrent distributed wifi access model possible, where individuals can create their own networks?

Either way, in the short term, watch for an increase in wireless security features and ads that portray wifi squatters as thieves.

The second story that caught my attention points in the direction we'll see online "programming" take, and it's the direction that Yahoo + Lloyd Braun will be facilitating.

The Collective Conscious investigates the rise in the multi-billion dollar modern art business of collectives - where author ship blurs: "Membership may be official, or casual, or even accidental: friends brainstorming in an apartment or strangers collaborating on the Internet from continents away. And they may or may not refer to their activities as art."

I immediately thought of the Lonely Island, purveyors of such fine work as Bing Bong Brothers, Nintendo, and the collaboration on Chronic-what-cles after SNL discovered them.

It will be Yahoo's - and Lloyd Braun's - job to connect online creative collectives with a wider audience online (including mobile). Of course, Yahoo will have to beat out News Corps' Mobizzo (for now only games and ringtones) and News Corps' MySpace, which is home to MANY said artistic collectives (the focus in MySpace now is largely music, but I see a coming focus on video creation, and predict a coming wysiwyg web-based video editing and distribution software, though possibly not from News Corp.).

News Corp is better positioned to bring online creative to the television audience right now though.

My hope for creativity - and television programming that I will enjoy - is on the creative collective. Much the way that indie music has become a driving - and profitable - force in popular music, so too will indie show-craft become a driving force in "television." Especially as the tools for creating and distributing such entertainment become cheaper and more widely accessible.
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |