Pump Up the Volume

I know the comparison between this movie and podcasting has been made before, but I remembered enjoying the movie the first time so I grabbed it from Netflix. I was not disappointed. It’s every bit as edgy and a commentary on the ansty life of teenagers as I remember it. I see where the comparison to podcasting comes in, though.

Just like podcasting, the pirate radio station in the movie was more of a means to the end. Broadcast communications, or the ability to reach vast numbers of audiences, is a powerful thing. I suppose that since the advent of the Internet we’re a little more sensitive (mature?) to the fact that the things we say can be heard by many thousands of people. Just like in the movie, things people have said over the Internet have had very real consequences (suicides, abductions, sexual assults, and other equally bad stuff). I think the next step in that maturity, though, it so also realize that the things we say will never go away and we are never really anonymous.

Given what I discovered about searchable public records in the past week or so, I would bet that any halfway competent Internet-literature dweeb could tell me my name and the last 3 or 4 addresses I have lived at. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to find out much more than that for just a small fee. So just in case you’re thinking that you can do anything anonymously on the Internet, don’t. Just don’t. Your future employer, girlfriend/boyfriend, father-in-law, or correctional officer may just be able to read what you wrote.
What does this have to do with podcasting? Nothing, really. The only thing that changes with podcasting as compared to blogging, e-mail, online forums, bulletin board systems, and pirate radio is the medium and the audience. The goal is still the same: to reach as many people as possible and hopefully touch their lives in a positive way…

…or maybe it’s being able to drop the F-bomb and knowing the FCC can’t do a thing about it.

Talk Hard.

Tags: internet, blogging, pirate radio, podcasting, broadcasting, anonymously, pump up the volume