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How the computer killed capitalism.
(pluralistic.net)
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this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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What do you mean?
The main problem isn't capitalism, but monopolies. When a market is sufficiently competitive, we don't tend to see these issues. And a huge component to a lack of competition is legal protections.
There's a lot more to it, like anti-trust, cronyism, etc, but IP law is a huge component that no longer does what it was intended to do: protect smaller companies from larger companies. It was originally a tool to encourage competition, and now it's the opposite. We'd get quite far if we just roll it back to how it was originally (14 years + one optional 14 year extension for copyright, not sure about patents).
I mean we are heading towards a climate catastrophe, people in the "western" world are so fed up by corporate friendly governments that many are attracted by facist movements like front nationale, ukip, afd or the trumpets in the republican party, super-rich idiots are making world politics just because tgey own stuff and you think slight adjustments to IP laws will do anything?
Btw, intelectual property already does not matter much. Amazon rips off legally protected stuff that is sold on their plattform and the original creators can't do shit about it. Chinese manufactures give a shit about IP since rhe early ninties and they have been really successful.
I mean that we need to do much more to survive this century.
Yes, I think changes to IP law are absolutely a step in the right direction.
Yeah, it's a problem, but you shouldn't be pointing the finger at Western countries, since CO2 emissions are going down in the US and Europe. And the US doesn't have severe restrictions on CO2 emissions, this improvement is largely through innovation. I'm hopeful that those innovations will spread to the rest of the world.
I don't think that is the reason people are shifting to the right. Here are a few other takes:
When I talk to people, we don't talk much about corporate America, we talk about inflation, COVID policies, and LGBT issues. I personally don't think people think either end of the political spectrum is particularly better when it comes cronyism, so they instead focus on which policies impact them more.
Sure, that sort of thing happens, but how much of an impact does it really have on large businesses? We don't see ripoff iPhones or cracked copies of Windows much here in the West. They're not ripping off cars, expensive clothing brands, or higher end electronics.
They rip off the little guy because they know they can get away with it. And that's the problem. IP law stopped protecting smaller companies a long time ago. Who do you think benefits more from copyright lasting life + 70 years, the indie author/game studio, or Disney? It doesn't matter if you have a patent, trademark, or copyright if a larger org can just tie up the case in the courts until you run out of money, and they know that so they abuse the current system.
Sure, there are lots of things we should be doing. iP reform is absolutely one of them.
>> climate change
> Yeah, it’s a problem, but you shouldn’t be pointing the finger at Western countries, since CO2 emissions are going down in the US and Europe. And the US doesn’t have severe restrictions on CO2 emissions, this improvement is largely through innovation. I’m hopeful that those innovations will spread to the rest of the world.
As long as western countries are importing so much energy and goods from the rest of the world, western countries are still responsible for the CO2 emissions by association. Sometimes even directly, when western companies have CO2-Emissions in other countries.
>> fed up by corporate friendly governments
> I don’t think that is the reason people are shifting to the right. Here are a few other takes:
There are many studies that suggest that there is a correlation between voting and trust in politics. Mainly it comes down to the majority of people are less likely to vote if they don't trust the system. Only that gives extremist actors more voters because their supporters are inherently more likely to vote (because they're political extremist, politics are important to them, hence is voting).
Furthermore, especially in Germany, but also in the U.S. many people, especially with low political knowledge and low education in general, are prefering political actors who claim to "drain the swamp", that meaning beeing an alternative to regular political actors they don't trust anymore.
The strong focus on economy and capitalism, especially after the fall of the iron curtain, is undenialably a major driving force in shaping our societies. Social security has been a target for these kind of politics, and the result was forcing people to do shit jobs for shit wages while everything else went up in price.
> > Amazon rips off legally protected stuff… China
> Sure, that sort of thing happens, but how much of an impact does it really have on large businesses? We don’t see ripoff iPhones or cracked copies of Windows much here in the West. They’re not ripping off cars, expensive clothing brands, or higher end electronics.
Well, what are other smartphones when not ripoff iphones? Apple has around 20% marketshare in a sector that they invented. Many companies actively copy Apples designs, like Xiaomi, who has around 10% now. And it is not about the impact on the businesses, we, as a species, need a lot less manufacturing and therfore businesses. The drive to make profit carries things like planned obsolence and tiered development (like in electronics, where often times big advances in consumer tech are possible but the companies earn way more if they make small improvements every year for five years).
> They rip off the little guy because they know they can get away with it. And that’s the problem. IP law stopped protecting smaller companies a long time ago. Who do you think benefits more from copyright lasting life + 70 years, the indie author/game studio, or Disney? It doesn’t matter if you have a patent, trademark, or copyright if a larger org can just tie up the case in the courts until you run out of money, and they know that so they abuse the current system.
Yes, but this influence in IP law stuff is only a symptom of companies having enough influence to shape legislation, jursidiction and executive power. Since money rules everything and they got the most, they can do whatever the fuck pleases them. And your IP law changes will not do much there, even if comes through in a non-tampered-with way. Big companies and the super rich are abusing the current system in general.