Scripsit Steve Langasek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Yes, this is entirely reasonable. Natural rights should be unalienable. > Intellectual property is not property, and all rights pertaining to > ideas and their expression are artificial rights.
I don't think that this distiction is useful for anything except flamewar fuel. Any right that the government offers to help me enforce (ultimately by letting its police enforce court rulings based on it) is a "government-granted right". It may or may not be "natural", but it's the "government-granted" part that makes it real. A right that the government does *not* help me enforce may or may not be "natural", but it's certainly not one that needs to concern us on this list, because all I can do if somebody does not respect my "right" is to shout nasty words at them (because the government does forbid me from trying to force my opinion on them by more convincing means). The concept of "natural rights" belongs to politics as best. -- Henning Makholm "Monsieur, vous êtes fou."
