February 28, 2005
The Razor's Edge of Free Public Information
James Boyle: Public Information Wants to Be Free: Corante > Copyfight >
Over on Corante, Donna Wentworth notes that we have the possibility of taking a stance on information that is, dare we say: pragmatic?
The conversation has been going on for sometime but the comments are based on the article by James Boyle at FT.com. It is worth reading the alternate viewpoint by Richard Epstein at the end of the article. He points out the fact that when governments fund the creation of information, it can be very hard to judge the true value of the information. The example cited by Boyle (weather data) is a positive step but I can imagine that there are many examples of information created by the government that languish in obscure databases that have no inherent public value.
As Donna notes:
Maximal intellectual property protection doesn't always equal maximal economic benefit. It certainly doesn't always equal maximal social benefit. The Development Agenda gives the world's most influential IP organization the opportunity to pull away from this radical stance, allowing us to create IP policy that does its job -- providing the protection where it is needed for optimal economic growth -- while retaining our human values.
I am glad to see someone looking at a more moderate approach to this issue. However, with pragmatism comes the inevitable difficulty of being able to make distinctions about inherent worth of information (a nightmare in legal terms). Still, in the complex and evolving infosphere, it is refreshing to hear stances that attempt to navigate the realities of ubiquitous information.
Posted by Rovy at February 28, 2005 7:18 AM