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The Control, Resistance, and Evolution of Digital Artifacts: a Materialist Study of Internet Culture

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The Control, Resistance, and Evolution of Digital Artifacts: a Materialist Study of Internet Culture AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Chris Villemarette for the degree of Master of Arts in English presented on September 13, 2006. Title: The Control, Resistance, and Evolution of Digital Artifacts: A Materialist Study of Internet Culture Abstract approved: Redacted for privacy Jon Lewis My goal is to demonstrate that a coevolutionary relationship exists between decentralized networks over which digital media are used and the control mechanisms placed on those networks and digital media. The resisting digital media and the control mechanisms placed on them push each other toward further decentralization. The aspects of a network that are externally controlled tend to decentralize to evade capture, and the control mechanisms tend to also use decentralized strategies so that they may better control decentralized networks. Using the interdisciplinary terminology of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, and other critical theorists, I investigate the movements of files oncomputer networks. By analyzing examples of digital artifacts that were distributed in a decentralized way in response to pressure placed on them by intellectual property enforcing institutions, I show that digital artifacts can respond to selection pressures in a way similar to evolution. I also examine the decentralized control strategies that attempt to regulate the spread of digital artifacts that contain elements that have been marked as intellectual property. I conclude that control and resistance do push each other toward decentralization. The Control, Resistance, and Evolution of Digital Artifacts: A Materialist Study of Internet Culture by Chris Villemarette A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Presented September 13, 2006 Commencement June 2007 Master of Arts thesis of Chris Villemarette presented on September 13, 2006. APPROVED: Redacted for privacy fessor, representing English Redacted for privacy Chair of the Department of English Redacted for privacy Dean of theGLtiSchoo1 I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Redacted for privacy Chris Villemarette, Author TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction . 1 2 Digital Artifacts and Networks.........................................................5 2.1File Sharing: The Replication and Distribution of Digital Artifacts............................8 2.2Strategies of Control: Digital Rights Management as a Form of Biopower ............................................. 11 2.3Deleuzeoguattarian Neomaterialism........................................16 2.4 Memetics: An Application of Universal Darwinism.....................21 3Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Networks: An Examination of BitTorrent..............26 3.1BitTorrent as an Example of Smooth Space...............................30 3.2Centralized and Decentralized Control of Peer-to-Peer Networks......33 4 Illegal Art: Remixing Digital Artifacts................................................35 4.1. Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization: Remixing as Marking Territory............................................40 4.2 Détournement and Recuperation............................................42 4.3 Remixing and Decentralization: DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Albumand Grey Tuesday............................46 4.4 Deterritorialjzatjon and Détoumement: Fenslerfilm'sG.I. JoePSAs 50 4.5Reterritorialization and Recuperation: Heavy.com.......................52 4.6Strategy of Proliferation: "You're the man now, dog."(Ytmnd.com)54 5 Conclusion............................................................................56 Bibliography.............................................................................61 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Client-Server File Transfer; A Centralized Network..............................27 2. Distributed File Transfer as in BitTorrent; A Decentralized Network..........29 Chapter OneIntroduction The Internet has drastically changed theway that music, movies, texts, and images are used. A person can downloada digital copy of an entire television show. That person could then feasibly use video editing software to cutup clips from the show, add their own soundtrack, andsave a copy of their edited work. The person could then put that video online for others to download,on a file sharing network or a video sharing website. Finally, those who have downloaded the remixed videocan also edit or otherwise alter the video and release it again. This is onlyone limited example of the possible uses of the Internet,as a variety of digital files are constantly being copied, edited, and circulated. Such practices have becomea routine part of Internet culture, despite sometimes being in conflict with intellectual property law. These practices often have no central organizer, instead being decentralized and self- organizing, much like the Internet itself. However, some institutions insiston putting restrictions on the use of digital media. Digital media, such as those shared on the Internet, havea tendency to resist the restrictions placed on them by adapting. In turn, the control mechanisms also adapt to better control the use of digital media. The adaptation of computer technology, whether for the purposes of resistance and evasionor capture and control, usually entails decentralization. My goal is to demonstrate thata coevolutionary relationship exists between decentralized networksover which digital media are used and the control mechanisms placed on those networks and digital media. The resisting digital media and the control mechanisms placedon them push certain aspects of each other toward further decentralization. The aspects ofa network that are targeted by the strategies of control tend to decentralize to evade capture, and the control mechanisms in response tend to also use decentralized strategiesso that they may better control decentralized networks. I will show that networks and the controls placedon them have a variety of aspects that can be pushed toward decentralization. That entails examining cases in which digital artifactscame into conflict with control strategies. I also analyze the systems of management that have been imposedon digital media by institutions such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. I will show how such institutions have failedto fully control the use of such media, and also how control systems have moved from centralized strategies to more successful decentralized strategies. The theoretical foundation that inspiredme to study networks of digital media comes from a group of contemporary researchers who are working in the area of new materialism under the influence of the wildly interdisciplinary philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Their book called AThousand Plateaushas been highly influential in making the study of the material flows of networksan important topic for critical theory. This new research is focusedon the mixture of decentralized, self- organizing networks and their opposite, hierarchical, centralized institutions. For example, Manuel DeLanda has explored self-organization and stratification in the realms of architecture, geology, biology, and linguistics. John Bonta and Mark Protevi have done similar work in thearea of human geography. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri have combined Marxist analysis with the work of Deleuze and Guattarito understand the role of capitalism in the organization ofpower. Alexander Galloway has researched decentralized control in computer networks. My work applies thesame concepts of exploring the complex relationships of material networks to digital media on the Internet. I will be using specific terminology that has been developed by Deleuze and Guattari for describing thepower relations of networks. I will be blending their terminology with terms from other critical theorists,as well as evolutionary biologists. Deleuze and Guattari themselves used terms from biology and other sciences to describe their materialist philosophy. I willuse many of the concepts from AThousand Plateausconcerning decentralization, self-organization, and adaptation. The terminology that Deleuze and Guattariuse is intended to describe the movements of materials through networks, and the changing shapes of those networks. Michel Foucault, as an influence on Deleuze and Guattari, will be important for studying the power relations of networks and the control of populations. Foucault, Deleuze, and Guattari were interested in analyzing the institutions of society that regulate behavior, such as schools, prisons, barracks, factories, etc.,as well as behaviors that resist or deviate from the regulations prescribed by those whomanage the behavior of others. Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and the collection of researchers influenced by them are not the oniy relevant theorists tomy investigation. Additionally, Guy Debord and Gil Wolman's Situationist theory will be useful for discussing file modification, because it deals with turning media topurposes other than that which it was designed. Also, I will use ideas from theorists of memetics suchas Richard Dawkins and Robert Aunger to set up the discussion of coevolution because of Dawkins' and Aunger's application of Darwinian evolutionary theory to fields outside of biology. What ties all of these theorists together is their commitment toa materialist approach to solving problems.
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