3:45 PM

In its annual “person of the year” issue, Time Magazine reflected a shift in our culture by electing “YOU” in place of the traditional leaders and thinkers such as FDR, Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr. Thanks to the democratization of the Internet and what is now known as Web 2.0,anyone with a computer is given equal footing and the ability to be heard. In today’s self-broadcasting world, if you have an opinion, you can publish a blog, post a video on YouTube, or alter an entry on Wikipedia. But is this really such a good thing? Our “cut and paste” on-line culture in which intellectual property is freely swapped, downloaded, remashed, and aggregated, threatens over 200 years of copyright protection and intellectual property rights, robbing artists, authors, journalists, musicians, editors, and producers of the fruits of their creative labours. The Cult of the Amateur shows us how the anonymity that Web 2.0 offers calls into question the reliability of the information. Unconstrained by professional standards, editorial filters, or at the very least, traditional libel laws, anonymous bloggers and videographers can manipulate public opinion and pass off biased opinion as facts. The distinction between expert and amateur, author and audience becomes blurred and the results can be devastating.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote that "every good movement needs a contrarian. Web 2.0 has Andrew Keen." Andrew is indeed the leading contemporary critic of citizen media. His controversial The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture looks at the economic, ethical and social dangers of the Web 2.0 revolution. Born and bred in North London's Golders Green neighborhood, Andrew was educated at London University, where he graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Modern History. Today he is the host of the Internet chat show afterTV.com and regularly appears on television and radio. His writing can be found on his CultoftheAmateur blog, his ZDNet column, as well as in traditional publications like the Weekly Standard, Fast Company, and the San Francisco Chronicle.