An interesting debate at the P2Pfoundation blog: Web 2.0 platforms (like us) often represent themselves as giving something away. At the same time, of course they rely on user-generated content to aggregate attention and commuity which they can subsequently sell on to advertisers. So they make money by exploiting the free labour of their users. In return they give those users access to the content they themselves (and other like them) have produced.

To quote the debate:’ The most eprverted example is yaadz,(http://www.yaadz.com/). This site offers video ads created and uploaded by the people who watch them. Somebody who loves Nike shoes can now create their own video ad and upload it too. And it’s free. They don’t even have to pay for giving their immaterial labor away for free. In East Germany where people gave socialism a shot for some forty years, many things stank. But surely people would have rolled on the floor laughing if you’d have suggested to them tocreate advertisement aimed at themselves for free.’

Is this ethical? What would an ethically sound system of retribution look like? Follow the debate here.