The suicide of Internet hacker Aaron Swartz turns out to be a sheep-goat separator.
'Sfunny. Libertarians and rightwingers generally pretend to be in favor of private property rights, libertarians often to the practical exclusion of any other rights -- unless you wave the Internet at 'em.
Then, it's communism for all.
I don't get it.
It always seemed to me that the creation and protection of intellectual property was one of the high points of capitalist organization; and it didn't happen until recently or easily. Charles Dickens, who lived not so long ago, was a prominent victim of poachers and crusader for legal protections for mental capital. As was Irving Berlin even more recently.
To me, it's clear as clear. Schwartz was a thief. Or, rather, not merely a burglar (although he seems to have been that, too) but an ideological patron of the idea that intellectual property should be seized and distributed to each according to his needs without compensation.
Some years ago, I believe it was around 1998 during the height of the dot.com boom, I attended a speech on Maui by the chief executive of the company that was pushing Napster. I've forgotten his name but not his message.
It was the same as Abie Hoffman's "Steal This Book." I was appalled. But not one of the three or four hundred other people in the room twitched.
I suppose I was probably the only content-creator in the room, and they were all consumers.
It is only stating the obvious that we creators are going to lose this one. We are outnumbered at least a hundred to one, and victory will go to the big battalions.
This debate, such as it is, has been going on as long as we have been a republic. Thomas Jefferson opined that the greatest benefactor of society was the man who introduced a new crop plant; and he walked the walk: He smuggled upland rice seed out of northern Italy in his coat pockets, a crime that was punishable by death.
As it happened, upland rice cultivation didn't catch on in America, but the model for Internet poaching was established centuries ago with the smuggling of silkworm eggs. Later, in our own history, the Massachusetts postal clerk who devoted his spare time to developing the Concord grape had his work stolen from him.
I've had my work stolen thousands of times. Strictly, my employer's work, since my employment agreement assigned my creative work to the company. Because of the thefts, the company was financially penalized, and my compensation was reduced.
So I do not see Aaron Swartz as a hero, as some do. I see him as a thief.
Some libertarians make a distinction between tangible property and intangible property such as intellectual property.
ReplyDeleteIf I steal your car, you're unable to use it. If I steal your writing you can still use it too.
Regretably, if you steal (my newspaper story), I cannot sell it to you, since you already have it. Worse yet, in practice, you have also given it to everybody else who I might sell it to.
ReplyDeleteSo, it's a phoney distinction. I didn't write the story to use it myself but to sell to someone else.
The Guardian has an excellent story, debunking all the heavy breathing by the pro-Swartz faction (he was offered a 6-month deal; I say he probably could have copped a Young Adult rap and escaped with no time and, if the kept his nose clean, not even any record).
ReplyDeleteNut grafs:
"In July 2011, Ortiz said in a statement about the case: 'Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars. It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away.'
"On Monday, academics paid tribute to Swartz by putting PDFs of their copyrighted work from JSTOR online, on their personal websites and on university databases. Many linked their actions on Twitter under the hashtag #PDFTribute."
This would be Skipper's cue to come in and school the academics on who pays to publish their articles. Elsevier isn't a charity.
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