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PFF's Bret Swanson compares differing notions of free ($0.00 -- The Abundance of Nothing -- Free! vs. Free Culture)- ...it's important to note that [Chris] Anderson's Free! is something quite different from Lawrence Lessig's Free-Culture. One is about new technologies and business models that in the end seek to make money. The other is about the demonization of property and profits. One is about voluntary exchange and creative new ways of doing business. The other is about imposing a radical new utopian and quasi-socialist agenda on our imperfect but highly productive and creative capitalist economy. There may be overlap at the margins of Free! and Free-Culture, but at the core they are very different concepts. Earlier, I commented along these lines on how contrasting perspectives of free (pertaining to free as in abundance vs free culture-software: the Madness of Crowds) jointly pose arguments against IPRs, yet each disagrees with the basis of the other. One is concerned with economic value transferred through monetary exchange, while the other is not concerned with (and even vilifies) profits. So why do supporters of different conceptions of free get along? This goes to show you that in technology policy, your enemy's enemy is your friend. Yet, the phenomenon does not change the fact that its amusing to watch intellectual property opponents subtlety undermine each other's arguments as they criticize proprietary rights.
posted by Noel Le @ 8:15 AM | Free Culture Movement
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