A common theme in the 'Tyranny of Copyright' series is the fact that copyright law today is rarely used as a means of creating incentives for fostering new works. Instead, it is used as a means of pure, unadulterated censorship. It is a means to try and "privatize" language, information and discourse under the rubric of equating it with real property. Once this has been accomplished, the "owners" of the information will simply prevent others from accessing it altogether.
This is starkly in evidence here.
Even the scientific community has embraced copyright tyranny. Very frightening indeed. But I this is ultimately no different than the suppression of information through copyrights in the political realm as well.
[I should note that I have some disagreements with the author regarding the underlying Evolution/Intelligent Design debate that is incidental to her column. As a matter of scientific theory, I have some sympathy for the undistorted, purely secular, Intelligent Design position - but that is a topic for another, much lengthier, post. It is enough to note that the author is intellectually honest when it comes to the copyright issue. The scientific community ought to be as well.]
Part X in the Tyranny of Copyright series here.
Posted by Justin Levine at November 10, 2005 02:21 PM | TrackBack