[p2p-research] Choosing the copyfarleft for the P2P Foundation coop

[Dennis E. Hamilton]

I was going by Alan Toner's critique, but these are the relevant quotations
from the rationale for copyfarleft earlier in the wiki page:

   "In order to do this a license cannot have a single set of terms for all
users, but rather must have different rules for different classes.
Specifically one set of rules for those who are working within the context
of workers ownership and commons based production, and another for those who
employ private property and wage labour in production. 

   "A copyfarleft license should make it possible for producers to share
freely and to retain the value of their labour product, in otherwords it
must be possible for workers to make money by applying their own labour to
mutual property, but impossible for owners of private property to make money
using wage labour."

In one sense, this is akin to dual licensing, something which can be done
now.  However, here, the license is based on the nature of the licensor
rather than what is licensed.  That doesn't satisfy any recognized approach
to an "open source" production system, including Copyleft, and I agree that
it definitely goes beyond what copyleft can accomplish.  

I think Toner's critique of any attempt to makes such determinations needs
to be taken seriously.  This does indeed discriminate among classes, and
while it might be viewed as an instrument of social reform (some sort of
balancing counter-discrimination), it is still discriminatory and I have
trouble seeing it being effective in application to intellectual property
licensing.    

But mostly, I make my own contributions (such as posting here) on a
non-discriminatory basis because I want them to be available, independent of
any notion of who might be exploiting who (although I certainly have no
reason to feel exploited and I am the one who gets to say whether I do).  I
think what I don't like about the copyfarleft proposal at the personal level
is it feels like someone is making a determination for me based on some
abstract social principle and all I want to do is make a contribution.  

 - Dennis

PS: Speculating, now, it occured to me that an arrangement of the kind
supposed may well encounter interesting intrusions by competition law and
taxing authorities in jurisdictions where the practice comes under
attention.  Speculating farther, the reaction of wage workers to such
arrangements might also be different than one might expect.    


-----Original Message-----
From: p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org
[mailto:p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org] On Behalf Of j.martin.pedersen
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 11:49
To: p2presearch at listcultures.org
Subject: Re: [p2p-research] Choosing the copyfarleft for the P2P Foundation
coop



On 23/12/10 18:55, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
> I must confess that Alan Toner's critique resonates for me.  I am pretty
> certain I will never contribute to a regime of scholarship and enquiry
that
> discriminates among classes of people.

I don't understand what you mean? Isn't the approach of Kleiner
characterised - whether one likes it or not - precisely by countering
class division?

m

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