[10503] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Debating the NII "Truisms"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Glenn S. Tenney)
Fri Feb 25 17:10:10 1994
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 1994 12:54:08 -0800
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney)
At 10:01 AM 2/13/94 -0500, Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL wrote:
> ...Why not open up the discussion by
>distinguishing at least between signal and noise, or between free stuff
>(bits nobody cares enough about to even want to own, like email traffic or
>netnews) and infoage goods like computer software, clipart, electronic
>books and so forth. ...
>In other words, adopting the same distinctions we use when discussing
>property rights in tangible domains; recognizing the difference between
>waste products (property that nobody cares enough about to want to own) and
>commercial products (property that they very much do). ...
I am reminded of some "free stuff" of which you should be aware. The US
government can not (yet) hold copyright on works it produces. Accordingly,
when govvernment agencies develop software it often ends up in the public
domain.
A while ago one of our national laboratories developed some software (if I
recall, it was for routing on chips...) that was free -- available to
anyone who wanted it with no restrictions. Not a single US company wanted
anything to do with it because they felt that EVERYONE had access to it so
there would be no competitive advantage to selling it.
Turns out one Japanese company felt differently. That company took the
public domain software, made a few changes to commercialize it, and turned
around and sold it for, if I recall, something like $400,000 a pop. And
quite a few US chip manufacturers bought it.
So, your comments about "free stuff" are slightly off base... There is
actually a huge amount of valuable stuff that is free. The problem is that
some peoples' (primarily corporate) perception of value is that if they
can't own it, then it is not valuable -- and therefore treat it like waste.
One of the areas in which things will change (and it will be a huge shock
to most people) is in their perception of value, especially of intellectual
property. To paraphrase... This ain't your grandfathers intellectual
property.
---
Glenn Tenney
tenney@netcom.com Amateur radio: AA6ER
(415) 574-3420 Fax: (415) 574-0546
