[lbo-talk] Dumb QOTD: What kind of labor produces intellectualproperty?

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> Actually, I doubt that Doug receives much benefit from IP protection, as the
> "harm" caused by piracy would tend to be small.

Without it, his books would be on books.google.com (and millions other
places) in a heartbeat. books.google.com would be another great
property to show ads, making Google even more powerful in the
advertising industry. Eventually, probably all the world's books would
be scanned into digital form, if they aren't already.

BTW, a problem is that people who don't pirate (and don't have easy
access to a top library) are disadvantaged.

One result of removing copyright protections would be the creation of
powerful, highly-literate online communities. (Right now, private ones
exist.)

(Putting aside the fact you'd want something better to take
copyright's place, which still compensates producers.)

All the best,

  Tj