21 hours ago
- The story of a judge who ruled that a student could not be charged for enjoying cooking smells illustrates the absurdity of treating intangible things as property.
- The definition of property is not fixed; it evolves over time based on what is practical and enforceable, as seen in the shift from hunter-gatherer land use to modern property concepts.
- The RIAA and MPAA are compared to the food shop owner, accusing people of stealing digital content as if it were smells, despite the fact that data distribution has changed fundamentally with the internet.
- Copyright holders are trying to enforce outdated property definitions through lawsuits and lobbying, which is harmful and may warp society, akin to forcing people to breathe through tubes on a moon base.
- A sensible approach is to allow charging for content only when it works without distorting society, and to rely on democratic processes and multiple countries to prevent abuse of property laws.