Parents with children of a certain age will be painfully familiar with Doormouse, a recurring character in Nickelodeon’s Team Umizoomi series.    He seems to work everywhere, and always in the same role, as an annoying character who obstructs our heroes from reaching their goal.

He is a classic gatekeeper.    It is not a likeable role.

Now I see Doormouse everywhere I look in my digital life.   Unlike the real world, where resources are limited and some degree of gatekeeping is required, most digital scarcity is artificial and oligarchical.    There is a battle brewing, and that battle is between the hierarchy and the network.   Paul Mason has articulated this pretty well, I think.

Generally speaking, Doormouse and his fellow artificial gatekeepers add little value in digital systems.   They just maintain the status quo, and obstruct innovation and progress.   I would love to see them all crash into Mars!

Image from http://teamumizoomi.wikia.com/.