Cory Doctrow on "Curated Computing"
I don’t necessarily with everything he has to say here, but it’s a good argument.
No, the only real reason to adopt coercive curation is to attain a monopoly over a platform – to be able to shut out competitors, extract high rents on publishers whose materials are sold in your store, and sell a pipe dream of safety and beauty that you can’t deliver, at the cost of homely, handmade, personal media that define us and fill us with delight.
It’s worth noting that all of the technology-based criticisms I’ve read on The Guardian actually make sense, and clearly a good deal of thought goes into them. Unlike Newsweek (scroll down and read the comments).
Notes