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Right to Create expresses some mild disagreement with a few of the positions taken on IPCentral.Info, noting, inter alia:
DeLong is an idiot, and his postings at IPCentral seldom leave the realm of sophomoric rants. He doesn't even get his facts right. Seems fair -- I often complain about the juvenility of the thought of the copyleft, and Right to Create does not disappoint, so we can all have a happy time playing in the mud.
As to the immediate cause of the rant, which was my comment on Torvalds and reciprocity (and yes, I did put a w in Torvalds, which caused much mirth), he misses an important point. If Torvalds wants to give software away without reciprocity, acting in a gift relationship, that is his privilege.
But if he aspires to live in a world of reciprocity, then it makes no sense to limit the possibilities of the exchange to code, excluding money, hardware, or services. Because people value different things, money and markets are the way in which societies achieve reciprocity. The ranters claims of the moral superiority of a gift economy or a barter society are puzzling.
For more on the broader point of IP and Libertarianism -- searching this blog for "Libertarians" produces a number of thoughtful pieces by Solveig on the topic.
To be truly infuriated, though, Right to Create should look at The Enigma of Open Source Software (March 2004).
posted by James DeLong @ 9:01 AM | General
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