Metaphor and digital culture: A communicative and value-critical perspective

Abstract

In the era of digital media, reproduction and dissemination of various types of information has become easy and inexpensive. As a result, people`s ways of using information have also changed significantly, and therefore it is not surprising that the idea of copyright has become a constantly contested issue. Those who support strong copyright persistently frame copyright as property right and demand to maximize copyright protection. In contrast, those who advocate free software and free culture construct a new set of metaphors - such as intangible commons, the second enclosure movement, cultural ecology, and copyleft - to debunk myths about copyright protection. This article described the interconnections of those metaphors, and explained their significance both at domestic and international levels.