On the existence of information:
Every existent in the universe is a limited, finite resource. You only have so and so much iron, water or energy etc. But according to the libertarian anti-IP argument information is a non-finite resource. It is not used up. Well, clearly then it does not exist in the universe, because the universe only consists of finite resources. To be is to be something. Everything has an identity, a nature, which means to be a finite thing. Information doesn’t fit the bill.
THEREFORE anti-IP libertarians conclude that there should be no intellectual property rights. It ain’t a finite resource, ergo it can’t be owned.
Are you with me so far? Well, the major problem with this line of reasoning is that information has no existence except as a state of mind. Information only exists in the mind. Information is a mind object. Now, while information in itself is not limited resource, minds most certainly are. Intellectual property rights are rightly so named because they do not really pertain to information but to the intellect. Since you only have a certain limited amount of hours in your life to think and produce with that mind, it is the product of your mind that should be protected through intellectual property rights.
Now, the very moment you understand that information is a mind object then you also understand why there must exist information rights (of which intellectual property is one). We humans are mind beings more than anything. The thing that distinguishes us from other beings is precisely our great minds, and our ability to abstract. What is this thing that we abstract? Information! That is why animals cannot enter into a contract. Contracts only exist in the abstract, as objects to a conceptual consciousness. Information rights is about protecting a HUMAN existence, an existence as an abstract, conceptual consciousness. There are things that are very important to such a consciousness: truth and falsehood, agreement, the secrecy of personal information (privacy) and ownership of mental products. The common denominator is that they all pertain to the human mind.
Now, marxists are full-blown materialists so they deny the mind altogether, and hence they deny ALL forms of private property, including material property because the basis of all property is the CHOICE to mix one’s labor with nature, and this requires free will, which any materialist denies. Libertarians are not as good at philosophy as marxists so they fail to understand the philosophical position they are taking and they end up with a half-baked, inconsistent materialist position on IP.
But to fully grasp the nature of IP and of information rights in general one must start with the human mind and recognize that the human condition revolves around the mind. All information rights flow from the same source: the mind.
On property:
What is property? Property is that which you legally have soverign control over, and by “legal” I mean that which you can use physical force to protect. So if you have full legal control over another person’s body and life you OWN that person. He is your property. This is known as slavery. The classical liberal position is based on PEACEFUL property rights. That is, property which does not involve violating the lives of other peaceful people. So using your own gun to rob a bank is not a peaceful exercise of property, and hence banned from laissez-faire. The same goes with piracy. If you buy a book you are free to do whatever you want with that book, except to pirate and distribute the mind stuff of that book. Then you are violating the work of another peaceful person.
