Oftentimes I hear people talk about how the internet is paved over and the companies turned it into a giant shopping mall. We go to Facebook or Tiktok for social media. Or we turn to Youtube or Netflix for our videos and movies. Yet if this metaphor is accurate in its description of the internet today, it also implies the existence of small, specialized stores and shady back alleys. For a mall mostly sells new or popular stuff. Where do you go when you want a text that is rarely printed and has to be bought second hand? And where do you get that which is never sold anymore? This extension of metaphor should become more clear with a few examples.
Going into the back alleys
As someone with particular interests, I find many stores do not carry what I want to buy. There is a very interesting science fiction book by Skinner, who founded the psychological paradigm of radical behaviorism. He wrote a book on a utopia that would condition people to work and live together, which no bookstore I ever walked into carried or could order. If you want Amazon to deliver a copy to the Netherlands, you will currently looking at 5 possible editions. One printed edition from 2005 and its audio version, plus 3 other printed copies that are more than 40 years old. I do apologize for not properly linking to the five editions, but it seems I cannot successfully link to a prior search result on Amazon.
Moving into less socially accepted territory, I do own one book written by locals in the anarchist scene of the Northeastern UK. It is a local history written by the anarchist community it represents and thus is not easily found in stores in the Netherlands. I only found this book by mere chance in a small store during a visit to the area and bought it there and then. This book is fully out of stock in Freedom Press and Amorphous Pieces. It is, however, still sold by PM Press.
Where digital piracy should be legal
Lastly, I will make a case for when digital piracy should be legal. If I were to want to buy a piece of software or a text that is no longer sold, I cannot obtain what I would like to. Whilst it is true that people or companies might have their reasons not to sell their products anymore, this still leads to a double standard.
The double standard concerns the second hand market and digital piracy. Twenty years ago, if a video game would no longer be sold by the “rightful” sellers, many people would still sell their copy to other people and thus other people would be able to play and experience the software. So why is it different if people pirate games that are no longer sold, especially if the “rightful” seller loses nothing? They don’t sell any copies themselves, so they don’t lose revenue. They might lose the chance to sell to the people who pirated it, but the same happens with second hand bought games.
The small fringes of the internet
So as the internet allegedly turns into a shopping mall, I find myself wondering about the power the fringes will hold. Will we find the fringes growing smaller with no power to speak of or small yet powerful due to the services and products they provide? For if even the USSR had its clandestine book circulation, how powerful could the fringes of the internet get?
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