Personally, I am wondering more and more about the whole concept of "intellectual property." Someone convince me that it is, after all, a good thing in the computer age, before I become downright radical.
Say, you write a book. And you're about to sign a book deal with a major publishing house. And I get a hold of a copy and put it on the Internet, for everyone to read free of charge. And your book deal falls through. If you don't accept the idea of intellectual property, then I haven't stolen anything from you...right?
Or another example: Bob invents a widget that makes it possible to drive 1000 miles on a gallon of gas. He's about to take it to investors, buuuut Lab Assistant Timmy posts it online. Now Bob won't get paid. Which is a shame, because a week later, Bob comes up with an even better widget that makes it possible to drive an unlimited distance by powering the engine with a squirrel fart. Think Bob is going to ever let that second idea see the light of day after what Lab Assistant Timmy pulled? The concept of intellectual property protects the marketplace of ideas. However. And to be fair. It can also have the opposite effect. Let's say Bob comes up with that first widget and goes to MegaSuperMoistAndFluffyPetrolCorp with it. MegaSuperMoistAndFluffyPetrolCorp buys the idea -- maybe for a pittance, maybe for a King's ransom -- and then sits on it and sues the whimpering pigeon shit out of anybody who ever comes up with anything actionably similar to it. So, yeah, there is a down-side to go with the up-side. But in my opinion, the up-side is worth it.
If it was a good thing before, why does "the computer age" make it a bad thing now? Just because it's now easier to break a law doesn't necessarily mean the law isn't justifiable.
