A space for political libertarians
This is our space to share our policy ideas and act to change the political landscape for the better.
In case you haven’t heard, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been rejected by the European Parliament in a vote of 478 to 39 with 165 abstaining, with the only UK MEP voting in favour being Liberal Democrat, Bill Newton Dunn. Considering this is the party of Graham Watson, the MEP who boasts about...
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Is it time for “information based” industries to consider innovative adaptation, rather than legislation and prosecution, as a means of dealing with the hydra-headed beast of online piracy? The U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear a file-sharing case involving a $675,000 verdict against Joel Tennenbaum. While a college student, Tennenbaum illegally downloaded thirty...
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The Internet is special because any two people on the ends of the network can connect, with no central authority in the middle having a say in it. Openess has allowed competition in the ultimate free-market. That marketplace of goods, services and ideas has sparked social, political and economic revolution. Centralised political control would...
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A few months ago, Tom Burroughes gave an enlightening talk on intellectual property to the assembled Libertarian Home group at the Rose & Crown. If you have not seen that talk, it’s available with an introduction by Simon, here. Whilst Tom’s talk was certainly interesting and managed to catch me completely unaware of one...
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Thomas H. Burroughes will speak on “How should libertarians think about intellectual property” for the Libertarian Alliance at 7pm at The Institute of Education, Room S16, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1B 5EA on Monday 11th June. Mr Burroughes’ previous talk for Libertarian Home presenting the dillemas of intellectual property is available here.
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A bunch of activists* are putting together the UK leg of what is said to be a global day of protest against ACTA, DEA, CDP/CISPA… basically the whole group of intellectual property supporting but freedom sapping legislative acts in America and the UK: Global day of action and PROTEST against ACTA and as a...
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Tom Burroughes walks us through the libertarian, and some wider, arguments for and against the institution of Intellectual Property, including copyright, patents, trademarks design rights and secrets. For anyone without means to enjoy the video, Tom has provided the following summary: Libertarians place great importance on the institution of private property; private property is...
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Some food for thought before the meeting on Thursday. After the non-aggression axiom, the right to own property has always been high on the list of fixations of those of a libertarian instinct. How property is defined, however, has been a matter of much debate, particularly with regard to “intellectual property”. On the one...
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Copyright does not exist as a vehicle for public figures prominent in ongoing public discourse over matters of public concern to suppress legitimate criticism and scrutiny of their positions.
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Last weekend we found ourselves in Amsterdam’s Leidesplein just as the Europe-wide ACTA protest rolled into the square. We found a volunteer for a spur-of-the-moment on-the-spot interview. One week later, I collected my own thoughts on ACTA and committed them to video, posted above. This is what I had to say: First I’d like...
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