On 2 Jun 2004, at 9:59 PM, Tim Churches wrote:
See http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/02/1086058889577.html
In the 19th and 20th Centuries the struggle was over the ownership of capital
means of production. In the 21st Century it is increasingly clear that the struggle
will be over the right to use ideas. George Monbiot has written some thought
provoking articles on this - see for example
http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,665969,00.html
i see these as long cycle issues. there will always be predators who abuse patent franchises, just as there will always be lawmakers, administrators and judges corrupt (or stupid) enough to go along with this sort of protection racket. the act of creating novel intellectual property and deploying it under an open source license is acutely disruptive to the very fabric of reality for patent fundamentalists. i watch them turning tricks now but the long cycle is on our side, and the value inherent in our model grows stronger as we develop more tools, more features, and more solutions.
does this mean the patentistas will give up without a fight? no. do i care? yes, outrageous abuses abound. but rather than gnash my teeth i quietly tend my code garden because at a fundamental level i am voting by my actions for the freedom to think for myself. and i am not alone in this struggle.
i'm reading a great book right now: "the success of open source" by steven weber, a professor of political science at the university of california at berkeley.
http://books.slashdot.org/books/04/05/15/1446232.shtml? tid=117&tid=185&tid=99
it's the perfect antidote to patent abuse madness.
[wr]
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