PRIVACY AND THE UNNECESSARY EXPANSION OF IP PROTECTION

Scott,

I added a comment box since you invited others to provide feedback. You are free to delete it if you like, just remove the COMMENT text with the percentage signs next to it at the bottom in the edit mode.

Your essay addresses some of the same things as mine, so I appreciated it. On that note, you might consider adding a hyperlink to the DMCA, since it is one of the revisions to IP law that impacts the expansive author rights model you criticize. You might also wish to note that it is my understanding that in the US, under federal law (and also in some states) anyone arrested can also have their DNA added to a database. See Washington Post article; NY Times Article (and links therein); but see this recent ruling.

I enjoyed your paper and in sum I think it makes some good points. I balk at part of the claim in the start of the conclusion: that "[t]he proper role of government is not to control the people, but to be controlled by the people." I tend to think it is both; the government both controls, through things like crime prevention and emission regulation, and is controlled (in theory) through elections, protests, and lobbying. However, this turns out to me to be a very minor disagreement because I read the thrust of your essay to recognize this duality and to mean (in the quoted sentence) just to emphasize that you believe the balance has shifted too far away from public control. In that sense, I do not disagree.

-- BrianS - 19 Nov 2009

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