Democracy of Information

Were you listening to Music in 2000? If so, one would remember Napster. It was born back of the then newly discovered MP3 Technology – the compressing of digital files allowing them to travel over the net easily. As a result, young people were ripping songs from compact discs and sharing those. Unable to take the weight of sustained litigation, Napster collapsed but so did the music industry – before bouncing back 13 years later. Therein lies the whole story of what the media industry newspapers, radio, TV Films, has been going through over the past 15 years.

This democratization, the ability of consumers to reject, redo, choose what they want to read, listen, watch, whenever they want it is the first big change that the past 15 years have forced on the information industry. Everything from the Nirbhaya documentary to Aamir Khan Comments becomes a trending topic. The blurring of lines between the Armchair Amateur and the trained professional creates all kinds of disruptions – socially, economically, and creatively.

The blurring also has some nice implications – notice the amount of talent coming out because of YouTube. Everybody from a cook in Noida to your Cat can become an online sensation, forcing mainstream media to drop its snooty. From Star’s Hotstar, Zee’s Ditto TV and Eros’s ErosNow, mainstream media firms are trying hard to get the 100 Million people watching online video in India. In the process, they are joining hands with names they wouldn’t have considered earlier. For Example, Star has signed on AIB, an online video creator popular for its spoofs.

The second is the havoc this democratization has wrecked on business models. But while, disaggregation is good for consumers, it has not yet translated into solid benefits for Media companies. In the US, for example, the newspaper industry has seen one-third of its revenues wiped out over the past 15 years, even as the number of people reading news has increased. One could call this evolution if the third thing about this democratization wasn’t true.

Those offline revenues of newspapers, film studios and television firms are funding the thirst for this disaggregated content online. Note that the bulk of traffic on search engines, social media and on a host of news sources comes from professionally generated content. More than three fifths of YouTube traffic comes from the videos put up by the large studios. Building shows with big stars, aggregating mass audiences for advertisers online does exactly what other media platforms do. That begs the question what really is democratic about a medium and a business where revenues and audience power are so heavily concentrated.

Protect Information: The new Currency

A growing economy and a fast Internet population make India one of the most attractive targets of Cyber Criminals. In a digital world, Information is the new currency. In the past, many threats are done by hackers on companies to collect data or release data. Any loss or theft of information can lead to irreparable damage in terms of overall competitiveness.

In connected world, network now ends with the user device, which makes it more difficult to prevent theft of data intentional or unintentional. In a recent research, it points that India is the number one host country of Botnet related Malware, Sality Malware contributor and Ramnit Malware contributor globally. Malwares like Botnet, Ramnit, and Autorun are designed to hack into various devices to steal data, banking credentials, cookies and other vital information.

As India’s smartphone and Internet base rises, the number of Malware directed at Indian firms will continue to rise. Today, companies are still spending significant sums on security systems. Securing the data is the first priority for any company which was previously ignored. Cyber-attacks on business come from bugs in outdated software. Malware creators are quick to spot these opportunities and create Malware that scan unpatched operating systems.

On Mobile phones, Android is still the number one target. Recent attacks on Apple iCloud and Sony had cost them a huge price. Malware creators today are not only stealing data but they also make sure that the original user pays for the data he owns. Original user can get the data back if he pays for the decryption key. About 80 percent of top 10 Malware can be avoided by up to date software. Tools, which can automatically update software offer protection against threats.

With regular increase in Internet users and connectivity, it has become very important to secure information. As Information is the new currency in Digital World. Just as a strong immune system in human body can prevent most dangerous diseases in same way most deadly viruses and malware can be kept out of most networks.