Towards a Political Economy of Free Culture In defense of the Internet, web-neutrality and distributed economies.

This conference brings together different perspectives in relation to the sustainability and development of free networks, focusing on issues such as the emergence of the Internet, open protocols, and free telecommunications infrastructures. It also explores some of the current threats to these networks. This genealogy of the development and current status of the Net – which is defined by its openness – will allow us to understand and contextualise the emergence and viability of distributive economies based on free culture. The clear link between these two models is at the core of this event: actions that jeopardise the existence of a free, open and neutral Internet ultimately condition the use of a tool that is still crucial for free culture. The morning session will concentrate on the role of the Net in the production and distribution processes of free culture. The afternoon session will introduce a series of concepts and analytical frameworks from which to think about the new distributed economies that are emerging in line with a free culture philosophy. Both sessions will help us to imagine and devise a political economy based on free culture.

We believe that a political economy of free culture entails a critical approach to the regulations, protocols, lobbies and new markets that determine collective production. In other words, to the elements that ensure an uneven playing field that hinders individual agents and citizen-led organisations in their attempts to build a free culture, and favours private or public organisations that aim to regulate (and sometimes to demonise) the emergence of a new paradigm that they see as a threat to their interests.

Organized by the Free Culture Forum