Re: [ox-en] Free market and the Internet (was: Re: price of software)
- From: Russell McOrmond <russell flora.ca>
- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 11:05:55 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 31 Jan 2003, Stefan Merten wrote:
I think the Internet is the best example of a ideal free market of
information goods mankind had a chance to experience until now.
Here is where I believe things broke down, along with the other
discussions suggesting that "private property" == "capitalism", and that
is to think of information as naturally being a good/product.
Information is naturally non-rivalrous. In order to make it into a
'good' or a 'product' there is a requirement for governments to make it
artificially rivalrous. These are artificial laws created by humans.
Physical things such as food, clothing, housing, etc are all naturally
rivalrous. We need to set up some sort of laws to arbitrate this rivalry.
Different political, economic and even religious beliefs come into play
when discussing the forms that this arbitration can have, and we can all
debate different ways to arbitrate things, but the arbitration is a
requirement based on the laws of nature.
I do not believe that information is naturally a 'good', and thus
consider "intellectual property" to be as the law defines it: a temporary
market monopoly granted by governments, theoretically granted for some
public policy purpose.
I question the claimed public policy purpose, beyond very short and
limited monopolies. I question whether the current excessive creation of
artificial market monopolies are in any way compatible with a free market
economy.
The Internet doesn't question Free Market economics as much as it
supports it. It also shows the difference between real Free Markets, and
those organizations/countries/etc that use the term when referencing
something entirely different (Don't get me started on Microsoft and their
preaching...).
To move towards a Free Market ideal requires considerably more
information available to decision makers in the market that currently
exists. Consumers need to have adequate information to make adequate
decisions, or that 'magic hand' simply can't work. Any unnecessary
restriction of information freedom, and in many cases this is a direct
result of some claimed 'intellectual property', is in opposition to Free
Markets.
---
Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
Any 'hardware assist' for communications, whether it be eye-glasses,
VCR's, or personal computers, must be under the control of the citizen
and not a third party. -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/
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