The Problem of “Intellectual Property”

The phenomenal growth of information technology, and of the Internet in particular, is profoundly altering the way we view and interact with each other. The new technologies have already produced sweeping changes in many aspects of our daily lives and show no sign of slowing down. What appear at first sight to be relatively unimportant technical or legal problems often end up raising serious ethical and political questions. This paper examines one way in which information technology is forcing us to re-examine commonly held assumptions, by focussing on the issue of intellectual property. We shall argue that not only is the concept of intellectual property unworkable in the information age, but that the notions of property and exchange on which it rests may be increasingly challenged. Alternative economical models will need to be adopted if we are to avoid a situation in which the information revolution turns into a counter-revolution, with all the wealth back in the hands of those who own physical commodities such as raw materials or manufactured goods, while creative work is largely unrewarded. Two recent developments in information technology have highlighted this issue. The first is the increasing ease with which digital material, including music and computer software, may be copied and transmitted. Music and software piracy has been widespread for some time, of course, but the spread of the Internet has made it much easier, as illustrated by the Metallica vs. Napster case, which demonstrated amusingly how even rebellious rockers are prepared to take to the courts to defend traditional notions of property. Of course, the illegal copying of music or software does not question the notion of intellectual property as such, any more than shoplifting questions the notion of physical property. A more interesting development is the Free Software movement, whose more vocal advocates deny that software can be owned at all. Rather than “steal” software, though, their solution is to write it and share it. Despite the moral difference between these two phenomena, Free Software programmers and MP3 enthusiasts alike tend to share the view that intellectual property is a misnomer, and stealing it is thus impossible. If I steal your horse, the argument goes, you no longer have the horse, but if I copy your computer program, you still have the