Intellectual property refers to the exclusive rights to own the property of minds, including copyrights, trademarks, patents and related rights. It includes creations such as musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions; and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.
There are several clear problems with intellectual property in the 21st century.
First of all is the absurdity of trying to enforce intellectual property laws in a post-internet age. The stupid, fruitless battles of the traditional music industry vs. file sharing companies make it plain that trying to enforce intellectual property for creative works is now impossible, pointless, and the will of the people no longer resides with the traditional owners of creative works. Plainly the only practical morality demands that we do away with the idea of intellectual property.
Other trends can be seen growing in opposition to intellectual property laws; the growth of open source software, public media like google books and wikipedia etc… The internet in general has been a marvel for the free distribution of information. And the world is much better for it.
In evaluating the need or otherwise for intellectual property laws, we must look at how the greatest good might be achieved. Under traditional intellectual property rights an effective intellectual monopoly was created. You can’t share, use or modify another’s ideas, regardless of the benefit society as a whole might obtain from this. In so many ways, the greater public interest is harmed by intellectual protectionism.
The most popular criticism of freedom of intellectual property in recent times has come out of sympathy for artists working in the music industry. I propose that this criticism is misplaced.
Artists claim all the benefits of the new globalised information age, of which there have been a great many, while trying to reject and control others rights to information when it benefits them.
The music industry has changed so much since the pre-internet days of the 1990's.
Distribution and access to new artists has become completely globalised. People are by and large, far more musically literate. Think about how much music festivals, and gigs have grown in that time.
The Big day out started in 1992. There are now so many more festivals, so much bigger, Australia can draw bands from all over the world and the crowd is absolutely aware of every artist and their work.
General entry to a single performance by a major artist can cost $150+, the average price of a ticket to a major gig has shot up dramatically. More gigs are being played, more are selling out, and the prices are hugely increased over what they used to be.
Smaller gig attendance is up, and the whole live music scene in Australia has been bouyant for years.
All these benefits are directly attributable to the rise of the internet.
Artists can't take all the benefits of the information age and expect no downside. The music industry and artists as a whole are way better off in a post-file sharing world. They should recognize this and be grateful. Record companies are the only ones really suffering. Fuck record companies.
No one should have an inviolable right to own and control information of any sort. The world is a better place without it.
The dotCommunist Manifesto by Eben Moglen @ wrevolution.org
There are several clear problems with intellectual property in the 21st century.
First of all is the absurdity of trying to enforce intellectual property laws in a post-internet age. The stupid, fruitless battles of the traditional music industry vs. file sharing companies make it plain that trying to enforce intellectual property for creative works is now impossible, pointless, and the will of the people no longer resides with the traditional owners of creative works. Plainly the only practical morality demands that we do away with the idea of intellectual property.
Other trends can be seen growing in opposition to intellectual property laws; the growth of open source software, public media like google books and wikipedia etc… The internet in general has been a marvel for the free distribution of information. And the world is much better for it.
In evaluating the need or otherwise for intellectual property laws, we must look at how the greatest good might be achieved. Under traditional intellectual property rights an effective intellectual monopoly was created. You can’t share, use or modify another’s ideas, regardless of the benefit society as a whole might obtain from this. In so many ways, the greater public interest is harmed by intellectual protectionism.
The most popular criticism of freedom of intellectual property in recent times has come out of sympathy for artists working in the music industry. I propose that this criticism is misplaced.
Artists claim all the benefits of the new globalised information age, of which there have been a great many, while trying to reject and control others rights to information when it benefits them.
The music industry has changed so much since the pre-internet days of the 1990's.
Distribution and access to new artists has become completely globalised. People are by and large, far more musically literate. Think about how much music festivals, and gigs have grown in that time.
The Big day out started in 1992. There are now so many more festivals, so much bigger, Australia can draw bands from all over the world and the crowd is absolutely aware of every artist and their work.
General entry to a single performance by a major artist can cost $150+, the average price of a ticket to a major gig has shot up dramatically. More gigs are being played, more are selling out, and the prices are hugely increased over what they used to be.
Smaller gig attendance is up, and the whole live music scene in Australia has been bouyant for years.
All these benefits are directly attributable to the rise of the internet.
Artists can't take all the benefits of the information age and expect no downside. The music industry and artists as a whole are way better off in a post-file sharing world. They should recognize this and be grateful. Record companies are the only ones really suffering. Fuck record companies.
No one should have an inviolable right to own and control information of any sort. The world is a better place without it.
The dotCommunist Manifesto by Eben Moglen @ wrevolution.org
