Talk:Libertarian perspectives on intellectual property

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[edit] missing a critical argument

The entry has more than one paragraph that begins with something like "Many libertarians consider " and at the risk of suggesting that you add one I will suggest that the most important one was missed. Thankfully it was covered on the page you gave the link to http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html in the "The Ethical Argument" section. But I think it is too important an aspect of this argument to be missed in the article. I suspect that among the natural rights/property rights libertarians who do not favor intellectual property (such as myself) the main point is that intellectual property is not property at all. It is not a physical thing, not a tangible object. Most theories that support property rights assume the property is material. The material aspect of property is critical, it makes clear the aspect of possession. Since information itself is not possessed except by means of the physical property on/in which is contained, it is not property in and of itself. It is too ethereal to be covered by the same theories of physical property rights. --jszostek

I concur. Chally 10:54:14, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

[edit] "Privileges such as copyright..."

I removed the term "privileges" entirely from the introduction of copyrights, patents and trademarks in this context, because its use was not neutral. The article is about the debate over whether intellectual property issues govern rights or privileges, and what the meaning of that distinction is. Therefore, "Privileges such as copyright," etc., became "Copyrights," etc. Additionally, a term such as "copyright privilege" is in itself a non-sequitur. Chally 10:52:37, 2005-08-13 (UTC)