I think the net generation cares strongly about certain issues that directly affect them (this being a good example), however two things need to happen before they can get involved. They need to:

1. Become Aware – increasingly you’re seeing social media and networking sites like Digg, Facebook, MySpace being used as the primary tool for creating awareness within this demographic. These take advantage of network effects to propel certain news items to the forefront of the everyone’s attention. This contrasts with old style campaigns that used newspapers and physical town hall meetings to garner attention.

2. Take Action (Conveniently) – this generation is flooded with information from every side, whether it be advertising, news, or social contacts. Personally I feel that we have become habituated to respond to interests or issues with a phone or computer. Government and opinion-seeking agencies need to keep up with this change in behaviour and make it much easier for people to (securely) lend their voice to an issue… using digital communications.

It’s not that the net generation doesn’t care about politics, it’s that we don’t care to use the voice mechanisms that are currently in place to solicit our opinion on politics.

“The political activism in opposition to the bill is proof that the Net Generation is not as apathetic as certain critics seem to believe.”

Is it any longer common knowledge that the Net Generation is apathetic? Critics who make claims like this sound ignorant, especially in the wake of all of the work that has been done paying attention to the Millennials.

As a member of the “Net Generation,” I know first-hand that my cohorts have a deft understanding of copyright issues. We see the draconian and hamfisted copyright measures of the United States (witness the single mother being sued by the big, dying record companies for her son’s music downloads) as not only ludicrous, but wholly inappropriate in fostering copyright policy that jives with new media.

Moreover, I think we understand that Canada is the kind of nation where progressive copyright reform IS possible. Fortunately, some folks in the House of Commons besides Jim Prentice and Liberal MP Scott Brison better understand the fundamental conflicts presented by current copyright laws and the amendments to C-61. NDP MP and digital issues critic Charlie Angus has been sounding the right notes when it comes to C-61, and has spoken out in the Canadian media to alert constituents of the regressions contained in the bill. Take a look at this back-and-forth: http://blogs.itworldcanada.com/insights/2008/06/04/industry-minister-jim-prentice-sidesteps-question-on-counterfeit-treaty-and-copyright-bill/

The Net Gen is on the same wavelength as Angus; moreover, we learned something from witnessing our parents writing to city councillers, MPPs, MLAs, and MPs — and we realize the clout carried by a few hundred letters to our local MP, weighing in on a particular topic.

My hope is that a future government, or pray tell, Hon. Prentice, can craft a REAL Made-in-Canada copyright bill that sets a model of reform for developed nations. My peers and I have communicated this viewpoint to our local Parliamentarians.