[pp.int.general] Plagiarism is bad because it infringes copyright????

[Amelia Andersdotter]

On 02.03.2011 18:21, Richard Stallman wrote:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism
> shows something repulsive:
>
> She claims that each of a dozen unrelated laws is a "higher good" that
> ustifies trampling most people's freedom and interests.
>

It is. It is called GDP. Our entire economy is built up around the 
concept that GDP is there and that GDP grows infinitely. If GDP does not 
grow we have failed and will all live in misery.

Maybe this will change as the Chinese economy grows and we have a more 
difficult time keeping up even with domestic production (especially of 
physical property - I also have though a lot about the service economy 
and how it relates to employment, and GDP).

Even public institutions in all member states fiddle around with tax 
money to create unnecessary cash flows between state owned institions (i 
have a good article on this from a Swedish online debate site if anyone 
is interested) because cash flows, with property, with something that 
can be exchanged for money (that is, anything at all, not just a 
whatever whatever) create GDP.

I don't buy the idea that a similar amount of property could be created 
without copyright, since a copyright-non-monopoly would (especially with 
free file-sharing and infinite knowledge for non-enterprises be 
legalised) by definition create a situation where less money is shuffled 
through the economy, and less immaterial firm assets can be used to 
acertain the "value" of an enterprise (the portfolio needs to be BIG for 
it to work on an international investment market).

/a

> Even if we forget about most of those laws, and imagine that she's
> only talking about copyright when she says "intellectual property",
> her statement is still twisted, because she is distorting the concept
> of plagiarism.