Property is mean - intellectual or not

= Property is mean - intellectual or not =

The free software movement (Richard Stallman, the GNU Project, the
Free Software Foundation, etc.) claims that intellectual property is a
bit of a contradiction in terms. They argue that information wants to
be free and restricting use, distribution or development of digital
goods such as software is a violation of its purposes and principles.

As these "goods" can be copied almost infinitely often one might ask:
why constrain access to these goods that are already virtually a
common good? But then, one also has to ask: what is it about material
wealth that makes it right, without alternative even, to treat it as
private property? Most proponents of open-source software and
proponents of intellectual property rights reforms distinguish between
"intellectual property law" and your run-of-the-mill property law;
they oppose the former but appreciate the latter. On the contrary, we
want to ask how well founded is the proclaimed distinction between
"intellectual" and material property?

When free software was first devised against the emerging software
industry it was thought of as a "legal hack": by claiming one's
ownership of software one could ensure it stayed freely available and
could not be appropriated. Nowadays Lawrence Lessig and the Creative
Commons movement encourage everyone to act in the same spirit:
musicians, authors, snapshot photographers and bloggers are all
encouraged to claim copyright on their work and to specify exactly
what someone is (not) allowed to do with their work. Somewhere a
"legal hack" became the means to establish a more rigid copyright
regime. We want to discuss whether this development is inherent in
attempts to hack the law.

Finally, we want to discuss how people make money with open-source
software. The curiosity of it is, that it seems to combine the idea of
giving away stuff for free with successful business models. How does
this work?

== Where/When ==

Friday, 27. April 2012, 7pm

LimaZulu
Unit 3j, Omega Works 167 Hermitage Rd, N4 1LZ London, United Kingdom
www.limazulu.co.uk
twitter: @limazululondon
reception@limazulu.co.uk
02088007428

== See also ==

LimaZulu set up a Facebook event page at

  https://www.facebook.com/events/294469253964297/

This announcement on our website:

  http://junge-linke.org/en/property-mean-intellectual-or-not
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from: The Wine & Cheese Appreciation Society of Greater London
.www: http://junge-linke.org/en