"Intellectual Property"

   "Intellectual property" (IP, not to be confused with [1]IP address) is a
   twisted [2]capitalist idea establishing that people be able to own
   [3]information (such as ideas, presentation style, songs or text) and that
   it should be treated in ways very similar to physical property. For
   example [4]patents are one type of intellectual property which allow an
   inventor of some idea to own that idea and be able to limit its use and
   charge people fees for using that idea, or prevent people from using that
   idea altogether. [5]Copyright is probably the most harmful type of IP as
   of today, and along with patents the most relevant one in the area of
   technology. However, IP encompasses many other subtypes of this kind of
   "property" such as [6]trademarks, trade dress, plant varieties etc. IP is
   an arbitrarily invented grant of monopoly on information, i.e. something
   that is otherwise naturally free. Only very few other ideas reach the
   level of stupidity of the IP concept, most people with brain oppose it,
   see e.g. http://harmful.cat-v.org/economics/intellectual_property/.

   IP exists to benefit [7]corporations, it artificially limits the natural
   [8]freedom of information and tries to eliminate freedom and competition
   of the IP owners, it fuels [9]consumerism (for example a company can force
   deletion of old version of its program in order to force users to buy a
   new version), it helps keep malicious features in programs (by forbidding
   any study and modifications) and forces reinventing wheels which is
   extremely energy and resource wasting, whose side effect (or rather one of
   many side effects) is of course destroying the whole [10]Earth. IP creates
   a kind of [11]artificial scarcity, i.e. in a world where any information
   once created would be abundant, available to everyone, IP kills this
   abundance so as to create a new "market" and [12]bullshit businesses and
   slaveries such as various IP law firms, patent offices, brand protections,
   copyright verification for courts, [13]DRM programmers and so on. Without
   IP everyone would be happy, able to study, share, improve, [14]remix and
   combine existing technology and art into amazing things.

   Only idiots defend IP -- basically just [15]capitalists. They give
   absolutely invalid arguments like "but without IP there would be no
   progress" etc. Of course there would be [16]progress, progress can't be
   stopped even if you try. Capitalists are amazingly retarded creatures.

   Many people protest against the idea of IP -- either wanting to abandon
   the idea completely, as [17]we do, or at least arguing for great
   relaxation the insanely strict and aggressive forms that destroy our
   society. Movements such as [18]free software and [19]free culture have
   come into existence in protest of IP laws. Of course, capitalists don't
   give a shit. It can be expected the IP [20]cancer will be reaching even
   more extreme forms very soon, for example it will be perpetual and
   encompassing such things as mere though (thoughts will be monitored and
   people will be charged for thinking about ideas owned by corporations).

   It must be noted that as of 2020 it is not possible to avoid the IP
   shenanigans. Even though we can eliminate most of the harmful stuff (for
   now) with [21]licenses and [22]waivers, there are many things that may be
   impossible to address or posing considerable dangers, e.g. trademark,
   personal rights or patent troll attacks. In some countries (US) it is
   illegal to make free programs that try to circumvent [23]DRM. Some
   countries make it explicitly impossible to e.g. waive copyright. It is
   impossible to safely check whether your creation violates on someone
   else's IP. There exists [24]shit such as [25]moral rights that may exist
   even if copyright doesn't apply.

See Also

     * [26]illegal number

Links:
1. ip_address.md
2. capitalism.md
3. information.md
4. patent.md
5. copyright.md
6. trademark.md
7. corporation.md
8. information_freedom.md
9. consumerism.md
10. earth.md
11. artificial_scarcity.md
12. bullshit.md
13. drm.md
14. remix_culture.md
15. capitalists.md
16. progress.md
17. lrs.md
18. free_software.md
19. free_culture.md
20. cancer.md
21. license.md
22. waiver.md
23. drm.md
24. shit.md
25. moral_rights.md
26. illegal_number.md