The Electronic Disturbance

The fifth chapter of "The Electronic Disturbance" by the Critical Art Ensemble begins by considering "the classical aesthetic of art as imitation," a concept I learned about in my Italian culture course whose "the real value" at the time was "the distribution of work to areas where otherwise it probably would not have appeared." The article goes on to explain the importance of "recombinant" who use plagiarism to aid human development and invention. "In a recombinant culture, plagiarism is productive." Next is a "quotation" that simply summarizes the chapter thus far with an ingenious footnote explaining the fault of the "surveillance function" of the footnote, readers tendencies to look to the footnote to legitimize the authors authenticity. But this function "implies ownership of language," a realm in which paying due credit becomes nearly impossible. The chapter goes on to explain in philosophical terms how nothing can exist itself only relation to something else, which implies plagiarism is necessary. "The repressive costs to the individual...are to high" when plagiarism is denied. Going on to explain the origin of our recombinant culture as the "need" for transfer information faster, which has deep roots in western history. In the end the chapter urges us to "rethink and re-present the notion of plagiarism...[because] information is most useful when it interacts with other information."
Throughout many publications considering intellectual property law and the Internet a common theme and conclusion ring through; laws dealing with ownership are necessary, but ancient, and need to be reconsidered in terms of technology and human development and invention. From so many disciplines and professions concerns on the matter are deeply rooted and are increasingly (as in the case of the three links in the sentence) being made public. After studying this issue in depth all I am left wondering is why their suggestion hasn't been taken yet?

Critical Art Ensemble. "Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertexuality and Electronic Cultural Production." Node London. 8 Mar. 2007 -http://publication.nodel.org/Utopian-Plagiarism-.