random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
  The word for world is forest.

tagged: trees, SF
  —Ursula K. Le Guin, Title, The Word for World Is Forest.

critical montages complaint about ip

I always like to see non-usual-suspect rants about IP, so here’s one from critical montages [11/27] (you’ll have to go there to see the insightful links)

No Sharing

Ever notice the Waffle House menu’s insistence that Double Waffle is for “dine-in only, no sharing”? A common prohibition at low-end restaurants, it’s also a small-print reminder of what capitalism is all about.

From enclosure to enforcement of intellectual property rights, capital’s message is always No Sharing.

Products of intellectual labor, unlike land and waffles, can be shared by all without diminishing their use value for anyone, however. “Copies” are as perfect as “originals” for the most profitable products — such as drugs and software — in the age of mechanical production, withering the aura of private property and making the revolutionary act of sharing and sharing alike irresistible. Capital, of course, tries to stop it, but, in doing so, it makes visible the “invisible hand” of the market, demonstrating that it is not scarcity but state power at capital’s disposal that prevents us from having what we want — even what we need to save our lives.

algorithmically similar posts:

» ruminating on … rumination? information? tinkering? imagination?, 2005-11-04 (score:18)
» people take this IP stuff so seriously, 2005-07-04 (score:16)
» ip / info round-up, 2005-01-13 (score:14)
» how not to give a talk, aka how to not give a talk, 2008-04-03 (score:12)

3 Responses to “critical montages complaint about ip”

  1. MaisonBisson.com Says:

    Copyright Lessons From Waffle House
    To round out my week of quoting stories from lquilter.net, today I’m putting forward this one about intellectual property (originally from Critical Montages):
    Ever notice the Waffle House menu’s insistence that

  2. MaisonBisson > …And Copyright Law Is Broken Too (Duh!) Says:

    … Accordianguy, meanwhile, points out the absurdity of the intellectual property absolutists in a comic by Tony Esteves. Then, CriticalMontages (via lquilter.net ) makes the human argument on this matter. …

  3. Kelinda Webster Says:

    The menu at Waffle House is very specific about not sharing. But the staff is not. If you order the All Star Special, yes it sais no sharing, but why would they stand over you and say ‘your child cannot have that bite’ ect. Those employees rely on tips, from the cooks to the door corp, and especially the waitresses who make $3 an hour or less. The dine-in only they do enforce mainly because most to-go’s don’t leave any tip. That’s why if you also look on the menu it sais there is a 10% to-go gratuity added to all to-go orders. That ‘tip’ goes on employees paychecks.

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