An Unconventional Perspective on Intellectual Property

No doubt you have heard of the proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress called SOPA and PIPA and of the protests of various websites against them. These measures are ostensibly intended to fight against copyright infringement and piracy on the web. Most of the protesting websites did not express disagreement with the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) laws, but that there would be privacy issues and regulation of websites by the feds. For this reason, I wanted to offer a different perspective on IP, which argues that it is neither necessary nor just.

As a primer, I recommend reading a commentary by Jeffrey Tucker, chronicling his struggle with the issue and a book that helped him understand the issue in such a way that converted him to be anti-IP. This book is called "Against Intellectual Monopoly" by Michele Boldrin and David Levine, the PDF of which can be found here. It looks at the issue philosophically, historically, and economically (the authors are economists, but don't let that discourage you. It is a pretty easy read).

This is, of course, an issue that is important to Code Redd Net, as both a consumer of media and creator of content, as it is to all consumers and creators. Please comment and create some content.