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

Re: Oops, you missed some things!

Author:William Crim
Posted:9/1/2000; 9:08:07 AM
Topic:The Lie of "IP"
Msg #:20688 (In response to 20678)
Prev/Next:20687 / 20689

Information is easy to copy, but information is often connected to things that are not so easy to copy (such as the labor involved with producing a CD). In such a case, the information inherits some of the value of the item that it's connected to.

Once the information is stored in bits, it becomes trivial to copy. Since it is trivial to copy, it makes enforcement of IP nearly impossible on a wide scale. Which in turn limits revenue from information that relies on IP laws for its sale.

So what happens is that IP laws functionally end up applying only to companies. This might be OK for the software industry, but the music industry is hosed since their major customers are people.

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