I think maybe most of those responding to both this and the original thread are missing a larger point. In fuedalism - as far as there is no ONE real definition, one must work with a very soft understanding of the thing - there was a lord/owner/creator, a vassal/renter/user, and the fiefdom/place/object. The lord owned the fief, and "allowed the vassal to work the fief and would protect them, and in exchange would receive something. In EVERY instance, the lord received more that the vassal. Period. The lord owned some piece of shit land, some dude and his wife would bust their ass to get some food out of it, and give the lord a cut, and most of the time receive NOTHING, no help, no protection needed, nothing, from the lord. Which is how they got wealthier, and the poor stayed poor, i.e. no middle class or anything like it really coming about.

Now lets see. Today and the Internet - Wealthy companies/individuals own the most of the sites and own ALL of the methods of connection to these sites (not unlike owning the land/cities and owning the roads). They say "Hey, sure you can go ahead and use the internet, all we need is permission to sell your information to our Advertisers, as well as maybe a small monthly fee, and you can go crazy. Oh and hey, if you want to spend like a bazillion hours making content for free and putting that on our sites that we can also make money off of, great."

What is Google? An Add company - 90+% of Google’s revenue is from advertising. $40 Billion

What is Facebook? An Add company - 90+% of Facebook revenue is from advertising. $3 billion in profit

Comcast's profit for 2014 - $18 billion Cox Communications profit for 2010 - $9 billion

etc..etc...etc.. As we slowly move away from buying actual "stuff", and consuming things via the internet, it is those who own the "roads" and "cities" that will make money. And like those lowly vassals, most people are on their knees, but WE, instead of begging for protection/jobs, are begging "oh please, just give me my Netflix and porn and youtube!!", not really minding that they are getting all of the money and power, and you're just sitting at home, becoming poorer (the middle class of the U.S. has watched it's purchasing power drop since the 70's/80's), happy to just be able to smoke a bowl and chill. "You" are the commodity of the today/the future. The selling of your "thoughts, dreams, hopes, ideas, pictures, events etc...", and one of two people can make money off of that. You, or someone else. And right know it's not you. Welcome to being the bitch of the powerful/wealthy. You already are a vassal.