EFF's Brad Templeton replies to PFF paper on digital rights management, DMCA [ip]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2006/05/11/pffs-singleton-defends/


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Politech] PFF's Singleton defends digital rights 
management and the DMCA in new paper [ip]
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 11:32:28 -0700
From: Brad Templeton <btm () templetons com>
Organization: http://www.templetons.com/brad
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
CC: Politech <politech () politechbot com>
References: <44636289.6020206 () well com>

On Thu, May 11, 2006 at 09:12:57AM -0700, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> By way of background, copyright and the DMCA are a divisive issue among 
> libertarians, as we've seen before (in other words, it's not just PFF 
> that takes the IP-is-property view):


I am curious as to why you characterize this as an "IP is property" issue.

After all, many libertarians believe that land can be property and
that the government has the power and duty to help you secure your land,
yet at the same time oppose bans on the sale of lockpicks, or the 
publication
of details on how to break the security of physical systems which protect
our physical property.   Indeed, I would be surprised if the vast bulk of
libertarians didn't feel this way.

The DMCA anti-circumvention provisions grant the state a new power to 
control
what tools I can posess and sell, rather than its traditional power to 
control
how individuals misuse those tools.   This does not follow from the belief
that IP is property.


I say this without directly addressing Solveig Singleton's arguments. 
If they
are valid, it is as statist arguments, not libertarian ones.

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