From: kragen@pobox.com
Date: Fri May 11 2001 - 23:49:21 PDT
Matt Jensen <mattj@newsblip.com> writes:
> + As an aside: Tom, I find it confusing that you argue for the benefits of
> the free market, and the importance of individuals living with their own
> decisions, and yet when it comes to you purchasing entertainment, a
> different set of rules seems to apply. If we were on a lifeboat and
> TimeWarner were hoarding the water, then sure, property rights be damned.
> But sacrificing TW principles to bootleg your own copy of "Babe: Pig in
> the City"?
I hadn't heard Tom was stealing anything --- just manufacturing his
own copies. Intellectual property is not founded in property rights,
but opposed to them: owning intellectual property means you can limit
what everyone else in the world does with their own property in their
own homes. Intellectual property rights are government-granted
monopolies on particular things; they vitiate the free market rather
than supporting it.
I don't think they're necessarily bad things. But, like many
not-necessarily-bad things, moderation is the only thing that keeps
them from becoming pure evil.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri May 11 2001 - 23:55:16 PDT