Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

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Re: The Lie of "Intellectual Property"

Author:	Dennis Peterson
Posted:	8/31/2000; 1:37:50 PM
Topic:	The Lie of "IP"
Msg #:	20604 (In response to 20593)
Prev/Next:	20603 / 20605

True. But the different laws which apply to IP are themselves, arguably, obsolete. Furthermore, they have lately been weighted far to the side of the producers' rights, where originally there was a much better balance between rights of producers and consumers.

Any law should be considered in terms of its benefit to society, versus the cost to society of enforcing it. Current IP laws might be considered beneficial--but the only way to enforce them on the Internet is to introduce oppressive surveillance measures. I would argue that the cost outweighs the benefit, and we need to come up with new ways of rewarding producers that don't have such a cost.

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