☝ Crowdsource is not open source

I’ve heard a few conversations in the last week treating open source interchangeably with crowdsourcing. Despite sounding the same they are very different, and the key difference is the ownership of the outcome. Open source is not the same as crowdsourcing because open source community members are stakeholders whereas crowdsourcers get less than sharecroppers.

Read on at ComputerWorldUK

☞ Hidden Motives

  • Michael Geist shrewdly observes that, far from being the exclusive domain of military diplomacy as might be deduced from coverage, the Wikileaks diplomatic cables uncover the fact that huge numbers of “intellectual property” issues are involved. Many of us have known for a long time that the US acts on behalf of its biggest companies in advancing a restrictive global copyright, patent and trademark regime, and we may well be about to see just how often they bully other countries over strictly commercial matters.
  • Looks like a great way to ensure you receive an “enhanced pat-down” from humourless, over-empowered, unaccountable and underpaid security people who don’t see any kind of joke no matter how cool you think it is.
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