Slashdot Mirror
World Intellectual Wealth Organisation Proposed
wikinerd writes "Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) proposed the creation of a World Intellectual Wealth Organisation (WIWO) as an alternative to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). FSFE says that WIWO will be 'dedicated to the research and promotion of novel and imaginative ways to encourage the production and dissemination of knowledge'. The WIWO announcement is signed by 18 organisations and 29 individuals, including Dr. Richard M. Stallman."
It is an insult to humankind to deprive it from its own achievements solely on the selfish argument that "if I can't benefit from it, none shall benefit". We owe our civilization and most of its achievements to the exchange of ideas. Strangely, now that we have achieved the long-sought dream of global, instant communication we suddenly find ourselves threatened by greedy IP laws. Oh, the irony.
There's nothing strange about it, history is full of examples where despite there being an abundance of a thing the people whose power depends on its scarcity attempt to maintain a monopoly on that thing's distribution so that they can continue control those who do not have it.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.