J.D. Lasica on Darknets, File Sharing and Remixing

The Well posts an interview with J.D. Lasica, author of Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation. In this interview, Lasica discusses the nature of darknets, why they exist, and how they are affecting traditional media:

The Darknet, at bottom, is the collection of spaces where unauthorized or illegal file sharing takes place. Most media outlets use the Darknet in the narrow sense to refer to the private, secure, encrypted spaces online set up to exchange files without fear of detection -- sites like Blubster and WASTE and the new initiative Ian Clarke announced 2 weeks ago [a globally scalable version of the anonymous file publishing system Freenet that can be deployed to Internet-hostile regions of the world] that will expand darknets from small groups of a few dozen people to potentially millions of people...

Darknets are not evil -- at least in my book. They're the public's reaction to overly restrictive copyright laws and bass-ackwards media business models. In some ways, darknets are becoming the last bastion of the digital freedom fighters (alongside the folks who just want to snag free stuff). So it's a decidedly mixed bag.

I've actually been approached by one of these legitimate darknet companies, and we may do some work together, to help people exchange their own media with friends and family -- instead of swapping Hollywood's media...

The book's title is also a metaphor for what the Internet is in danger of becoming if Congress, the courts and the federal regulatory agencies continue to clamp down on an emerging, vibrant new form of grassroots media that borrows from the culture at large. So it's a warning about where we may be heading unless we come to grips (and Washington gets a grip) on the realities of digital culture...