I have argued elsewhere that the only thing that stands between us and information abundance is “intellectual property”, which is contrary to the nature of information itself.

Greetings from Manila,

It is rare that publishers lie more clearly than they have here and the lie shows what an impediment they really are. The statement, “Without intellectual property rights, writings cannot possibly exist,” is historically as well as semantically dishonest. The term, “intellectual property” is designed to confuse the concepts of copyright, trademark and patents with each other and real property. It should never be used, even when quoting others, without refutation. The historical lie is more obvious. People were happy to share their views in writing long before mechanical presses and copyright laws. The philosophers in question were certainly not motivated by money. Publishers stand in the way of the greatest public library ever created – the library that will exist when we can all share without fear.