Our view on IP law is derivative of deep libertarian principles, and counterintuitive even to libertarians upon first sight, and hard to grok even with study. Even harder to imagine how a market would adapt to it successfully.
It’s yet another thing that we will have to show actually working in practice before it gains wider acceptance.
The onus is on us (haha!) to get a working society up and running and begin drawing citizens the world over to Society 2.0.
This is like the tactic of using a telemarketer’s script against them, only with the border guard:
That seems to be (at least ultimately anyway) a distinction without a difference. I suppose you could try to argue that it’s “scary” in that people are “evil” in that they don’t believe IP is illegitimate but rather believe it is legit, and are just actively trying to violate laws protecting it…i.e. knowingly and purposefully doing something “bad”.
But I personally don’t find that to be a very strong argument. What’s more, I would actually argue that the very reason so many people don’t seem to have a problem (or even give a real second thought) to violating IP laws is because on some level they know they’re illegitimate.
I think this is the main explanation for the extreme rise of the “pirate” culture. Reading sites like Torrentfreak and Falkvinge.net, seeing things like Everything is a Remix and other related lectures, and especially the advent of groups like the Pirate Party…and even just looking at the sheer numbers of Bittorrent users and the popularity of all the various sharing platforms…you get a sense of just how pervasive this notion is.
And these people don’t fully “get it”…they haven’t read the works of the advisory board at c4sif.org necessarily. But they obviously on some level, to some degree or another, understand there’s something very wrong with IP, and especially the way it is treated and handled in the world today. It’s very similar to the prevalence and pervasiveness of speakeasys and the like, during Prohibition. This widespread occurance of illegal activity wasn’t the result of a sudden surge of “evil”. It was the natural and predicable result of making something that is not unethical (and which much of the population enjoyed) against the law.
I believe that was certainly the case for me. I honestly never felt bad about downloading or making a copy of something, especially not for my own personal use. Admittedly it was a source of struggle, as it does go against what one is taught indoctrinated into essentially from childhood, and as mentioned, it takes quite a bit of study and consideration to even begin to be comfortable with the idea of no IP (much like the idea of no rulers). But it’s not as if reading Kinsella and Hoppe “changed my mind” necessarily…so much as it verbalized and articulated notions I already had…simply spelling them out (and fleshing them out) in a coherent explication, as well as rooting them in a logical structure of reason.
Again, I think it’s much the same as a journey to libertarianism in general. I think many will recount a largely similar experience in how they came to identify as they do…namely, they always kind of felt certain things and held certain beliefs/views…but never actually were able to nail them down and solidify them until various aspects were illuminated by the words of some scholar before them.
In short, I don’t find anything “scary” at all about people discussing ways to get away with violating illegitimate laws. I don’t find the idea of Harriet Tubman scary, I don’t find the acts of Anne Frank scary…and I don’t find people talking about how to share information without getting put in a cage scary.
What’s scary are the people who advocate that people like Harriet Tubman and individuals who share information should be thrown in a cage.
Who says rap can’t have stimulating messages?
Immortal Technique, “4th Branch”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHq-SevTcQ
Immortal Technique, “Cause of Death”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpgppZwX3Gw
Sex is major reason military commanders are fired
Indicted Megaupload founder opens new sharing site
Condoleezza Rice to Become CBS News Contributor
HAHA, that was awesome… so believable…
Clayton -
The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
Another Sheriff Refuses to Enforce Unconstitutional Gun Laws
We Don’t Need No Thought Control
Not Surprisingly, Castro’s Take on Gun-Control Coincides With Our Rulers’
The Difference Between Banks in the Old Days and Today
Algeria militants played shrewd media game
Navy: Random alcohol tests for sailors in US
Study: Digital information can be stored in DNA
Voice actor for Charlie Brown arrested in Calif.
342. Forced Drugging and Forced Vaccinating
Gun Owner Saves Boy from Pit Bull Attack! Wait … Police Say His Actions Could be ‘Criminal’ ?
Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry: The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class
Wow, the “interviewer” just couldn’t restrain herself from painting him as an extremist at every point. She wasn’t comfortable letting his answers to her questions stand on their own.
My latest article:
The Theory Of Money In The Tradition Of Carl Menger. Part I
http://nielsio.tumblr.com/post/41447049086/the-theory-of-money-in-the-tradition-of-carl-menger
Note that this is not compatible with modern Austrians such as Rothbard, Salerno, Hullsman, Murphy, Bagus, and others.
@Blargg: I felt like he could have been a bit more articulate since it’s obvious she, like most people, doesn’t know much about voluntary society.
Clayton -
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratified-to-preserve-slavery
Second Amendment? Racist.
It’s cool that even in the comment section people are calling this out for the quackery it is:
“The author places many quotes out of context. You may try reading the Dred Scott decision. After you do, feel free to write an article declaring that the sole purpose of the US judiciary was to enforce slavery, because the courts did exactly that for over 150 years. Clearly, the entire purpose of the Justice Department was to enforce slavery in all 50 states. By further extension, the US flag flown over Ft McHenry was a flag devoted 100% to the enforcement of slavery during the Battle of Baltimore. Therefore, the Star Spangled Banner as a song is devoted to enforcing slavery. Yankees fly the US flag in the stadium in NY. Therefore, the Yankees are playing baseball to enforce slavery and racism. Are you getting the point?”
Adam Kokesh: Makin’ brothas think
This is awesome, Central Banks feeling threatened by Bitcoin, saying its “ease of use” could threaten them! Hahaha! I love the free market! And I love that we can use technology to undermine statism 
i kind of like what steffy has to say here about spreading the liberty movement
[view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEndLctWQ-c&t=39m22s]
starts at 39:22
Obama Begins Inauguration Festivities With Ceremonial Drone Flyover
HAHA, that was awesome… so believable…
What? You mean this didn’t happen? I suppose they just used some advanced stealth technology.
