On 5/20/14, Lee Winter <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 5:24 AM, Richard Hector > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On 19/05/14 17:42, Lee Winter wrote: >> > On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 10:50 PM, Zenaan Harkness <[email protected] >> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> > >> > Are you aware that there is a useful (from the perspective of >> > freedoms) distinction to be made between physical property and >> > so-called 'intellectual property'? >> > >> > No. In fact hell no. >> >> You may not consider the distinction useful; others do.
>> > Consider if you please (or use the Socratic defense of not listening) >> > the definition of property. How does something become property? >> > Materials in the "wild" are not property. So how does it become >> > property owned by some person(s)? >> > >> > I like John Locke's answer in the labor theory of >> > property/ownership/first appropriation. Natural materials become owned >> > when a person, who automatically owns their ownself and thus their own >> > labor, mixes that labor with the natural materials. So plowing a >> > field, >> > digging a well or a mine, or cutting down a tree are all ways of mixing >> > one's labor with raw land, which combination is the basis for all >> > property. Even unimproved land can be characterized as property if the >> > would-be owner is willing to defend it. >> >> It's an interesting definition; I doubt it's universal. For example, one >> might consider that 'wild' materials are owned by everybody, rather than >> nobody. So if you improve it, then both parties - everybody as well as >> you specifically - part-own it. Or if nobody owns the wild materials, >> then it could be considered that you part-own it, and nobody owns the >> rest. > > The phrase I think you are looking for it "the common heritage of all > mankind". It was stupid when it was adopted by the United Nations,it is > stupid now, and it will always be a stupid excuse (as opposed to a reasoned > reason) for preventing people from benefiting from their own efforts. > Control freaks love it though. Lee, your words speak for themselves. Unfortunately there will always be those who are untrained in witnessing assumptions/ presumptions and non-conclusions, but hey, that's entertainment for you. Zenaan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: https://lists.debian.org/CAOsGNSQjtx8KVxhpk1fSU4=V4nV8etVwAYZW7nqm6=Y64mXN=a...@mail.gmail.com
