Copyfascism Watch

One of the weaknesses of the copyfight is the decidedly anti-private property bent of many of the arguments made against copyright. In fact, much more could be achieved in the protection of our besieged civil liberties if the lawyers and activists insist upon the private property rights of the individual.

Unlike other “natural rights” like free speech, private property, and privacy where government action usually involves infringement of those rights, copyrights and patents hold the distinction of the only so-called “rights” that require government coercion for legitimacy. Copyrights are not practiced; copyrights are enforced. 

As such, we must view copyrights as nothing more than monopolies granted by the government to individuals and corporations. Stephan Kinsella said:

Copyright and patent grants of privilege are another form of property infringement — courtesy of the state. While they have their origins in a much earlier privilege given to “friends of the crown,” in their modern incarnation they blend in with the welfare state’s wealth-distributing impetus. Far from being “natural” property rights grounded in the common law, patent and copyright are monopoly privileges granted solely by state legislation.

There is a disturbing trend among content-creators, especially in the online medium, to view their copyright as giving them the right to not only control the distribution of their work, but also to control the potential means of distribution. This can be seen by the way the RIAA and the MPAA went after Grokster and Napster or, in a smaller example, member photographers' reaction to the photo-sharing application Flisher in Flickr. Even the potential for unauthorized distribution becomes cause célèbre for content-creators to infringe upon what is the private property of programmers, e.g. web servers and domains. In some cases, government coercion is utilized in seizing the private property of those suspected in copyright infringement. According to copyfascists, you have forfeited your right to your own computer as soon as their content resides in it.