The fight for the right to free thought is at a tipping point. Apple has taken remarkable steps to protect the rights of music companies and the artists they represent by creating safeguards within the i-phone , “The leading computer company plans to build a system that will sense when people are trying to video live events — and turn off their cameras” according to The Sun newspaper.
At the same time, the creation of websites devoted to the protection of intellectual property rights, such as stopmusictheft.com, are helping to raise awareness of the very real threat to content, that we all know and love, from the free and illegal sharing and downloading of content. stopmusictheft.com rightfully notes that “without intellectual property, there is no product to sell on TV or the movies or music or these days, on the internet.” Similarly, without the right to charge for this content and therefore the right to protect intellectual property, no-one will waste their time or money to create the great content that we all enjoy.
However, there is great consternation at the concept of intellectual property rights coming form the left. The remix manifesto is one such discussion propagating the idea that the free flow of intellectual property is somehow equal to free speech. I suggest, however, that free speech is more than the theft of ideas.
There are very real free speech problems in this world and the right to intellectual property is not one of them. If people are worried about free speech, i suggest they contact the ABC and Julia Gillard and ask them why Glen Milne has been dumped and my journalists in this country have been denied the right to comment.
