Denial of Service Attack Redefines Media

The diaspora meets desperation

In response to the great over-hiring bonanza of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rolling thunder of the tech talent diaspora spills determined inventors into all corners of the world. Women and men with ability, disposable money and a point to make abound. Meanwhile, Venture Capitalists, jarred by a series of hype cycles, and in search of hockey stick growth welcome them with open arms. With the great media land-scape reordering of The Big Five, and software companies gobbling up large gaming franchises, there is only one thing everyone can still agree on:

Content is still king. 

What’s more, the arrival of generative AI puts the fear of God into most knowledge workers, but especially into artistic talent. While still employed, they are igniting side hustles to mint NFTs, create children’s books, and author animations and mini-games. This trifecta of money, tech and art creates a crucible which saturates the internet’s media feeds with frenetic news about startups getting into the race. 

This ocean is not red, it is crimson. 

In unprecedented pace, however, consolidation appears to counter this trend,  every idea is in play dozens of times. A group of shrewd, well-connected spot an opportunity which has not been explored. They form a counter-insurgency that is not just stealth but underground. On darknets, a well-heeled and ill-tempered set of companies align their vindictive forces over close to a year. Extremely talented and prolific content generators, paired with technologists planning a war game to the minutest detail, and a shrewd general takes merciless control. And they have one singular mission. 

Everything, everywhere, all at once!

On Christmas Day a torrent of uncanny copycat derivatives of WDAS, Fox, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Marvel intellectual property hits ALL existing outlets. At once. 

The coordinated attack is aimed at the techno-legal department of The Walt Disney Company. The derivatives are just skewed enough, that they are plausibly within canon of the grand stories, but are control-netted just outside of all existing IP. With a sudden, insurmountable and crushing force coming down on legal, the world looks on as the human version of a denial of service attack consumes the mouse house lawyers. Just to prove one case would mean lobbying, law suits, and relentless campaigning. But with millions of not-so-Disney princesses and alt-Ironmen popping up all at once, the IP king has to fold its cards and accept the IP is no longer defensible. The deluge lasts for a week, and levels the intellectual property playing field. 

The rebellion is smart enough to weave donations, sponsorships, Ip co-ownership into their publications. New business models coalesce around thousands of IP domains, each of which has the potential to create games, movies, series and experiences for decades to come. 

Nearly everyone wins. Just not Disney’s stockholders.