Philosophy of information ow

[Timothy C. May]

At 5:46 PM 5/27/96, Chris Adams wrote:
>On 27 May 1996 11:25:28 pdt, m5 at vail.tivoli.com wrote:
>
>>What if I just *see* your couch, and then back in my garage I use my
>>couch replicator to make a couch just like yours, complete with fuzzballs
>>and loose change between the cushions?  Now I have your couch, in a sense.
>>Are you still upset?
>>
>>When I walked off with your blood chemistry data, did you lose the use
>>of it for your future purposes?
>
>I believe that you are free to keep information, use it, etc. but
>you MUST get permission before selling it.


This opinion summarizes what's wrong with the world today.

Facts are facts. Statements about reality. If I happen across a piece of
information, such as "Chris Adams is subscribed to the Cypherpunks list," I
need not get permission from Chris Adams to sell this fact to another.
(Unless of course I have a contractual relationship with Chris involving
this in some way.)

Not even in these Beknighted States, unless the laws have recently gotten
much worse that they were a short while ago.

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay at got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."