Forces on both the left and right are slowly awakening to the problems of the modern copyright scheme.
First off, there is a great compilation of some recent intellectual property lunacy by the ultra-left wing rag Mother Jones (and I use the term 'ultra-left wing rag' as a term of endearment in this particular instance). [Hat-tip: Lessig]
Now it seems that the free market libertarians are starting to get the big picture in greater numbers. The libertarian CATO institute has weighed in on the 'perverse' Digital Millennium Copyright Act. [Hat-tip: Instapundit] Hopefully, they will able to convince other conservatives that intellectual property is not property at all. It is a government created monopoly that indeed 'circumvents competition'.
The main opposition to rational intellectual property laws now consists primarily of an alliance between the Hollywood Left and the Corporatist Right (many of whom troll around the blogosphere at both ends of the political spectrum).
Meanwhile, I was pleased to see Patterico joining Volokh and others in the blogosphere in casually encouraging the 'theft' of Viacom's 'property' by allowing people to see the South Park episode that distributors have tried to suppress from the public in order to placate apologists for Scientology.
I have written about this phenomenon before. When Lynn Cheney tried to pull the same stunt, I was criticized by some for not allowing her publisher to exercise the 'rights' to their 'property'. Now that the exact same issue is taken out of the context of a partisan election, its funny how people now seem to agree with my position through their silence.
On with the war!
Part XII of the Tyranny of Copyright here (which contains another instance of South Park/Scientology-style censorship).
Posted by Justin Levine at March 21, 2006 06:05 PM | TrackBack