i am a different drummer when did you last stop and think...	info	bug report

A letter to some editors which I forgot I wrote until I was surprised by a response Lawrence Lessig's article "The Internet Under Siege" makes some great points and presents a compelling argument in favor of promoting freedom on the Internet. Unfortunately, he doesn't address what the average consumer can do to turn the tide and prevent corporate greed from making the Internet the equivalent of a cheesy strip mall. The primary need is for everyone to rethink their ideas on intellectual property. After an honest examination, one must agree that the whole idea is bunk. Every idea in my head has its roots in other ideas. Our ideas depend on one another just we depend on one another. Granting a patent to whoever first lays claim to an idea is like giving that individual or corporation the prize in a race that never began. I could independently come up with any number of ideas that closely parallel pre-existing patents, and I may arrive at these ideas through unique thought processes that in no way match the thinking that led to the patent. Yet my thought would have almost no value because someone has already claimed it as their own. Unless the idea is itself a patentable process, I'm out of luck. As individuals attempt to become producers, clearly the possibility of a patent or copyright is appealing. We want to play the same game the big boys play. We want to see some benefit from our efforts. In reality, the best way to accomplish this is to avoid playing the game at all. We are most successful when we cooperate with one another, rather than attempt to keep up with what's mine and what's yours. Computer simulations based on complexity theory have shown that a tit-for-tat model of altruism does indeed work, and this is the implicit model of the free and open relationships the Internet can foster. An individual who takes advantage of a public software license, for instance, and attempts to make an unreasonably large profit from the accumulated work and effort of others without giving anything back will not be considered a good member of the community. When the exchange of ideas and information is free, those involved will likely share in the benefits. Each member of the community has the opportunity to make a contribution and the chance to have that contribution recognized. In essence, our collective intellectual property is the real resource here. No one supergenius or supercorporation should have the right to eternally squeeze ideas for profit. In some markets, a limited protection scheme may make sense to keep the markets viable until a complete shift in our understanding of intellectual property has taken place and changed the very nature of the market. Meanwhile, every one of us can commit to a kind of open source model simply because it makes sense. Rather than keep my ideas to myself until I can fill out my patent applications or register my copyright, I choose to paint them directly into the intellectual landscape that helped bring them to fruition. I may not appear to be as successful as those who produce content for the express purpose of profit, but my ideas have the potential to spur further innovation faster if I don't worry about my compensation. I trust instead that as the tide does turn (as tides always do), my contribution will be recognized or not based on its real value.

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