Jonathan Marshall on Sun, 13 Dec 2015 23:34:57 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> Vice > Peter Sunde > I Have Given Up


Peter:
>> I'd say that the biggest 'meme'-hijack of the last 40 years has been
>> equating the idea of 'freedom' with the right to purchase - end of
>>story.

>This was in Smith and capitalised on (wordplay intended) by Ford. Wasn't
>it? So not really just the last 40 years.

As far as I know, the idea is not in Smith who supported a 'virtue
ethics' as a vital feature of capitalism (which implies there is more to
life than sale and purchase), and criticised what capitalism did to
workers, as well as capitalist use of the state to cut the costs of
their imposed markets and colonialism. 

I'm saying 'the last forty years' because it is only really since the
birthing of so called 'neoliberalism' (Thatcher and Reagan) that it
seems to have become the dominant and almost unquestionable idea of
freedom - but of course the idea has a history - like every other idea. 

>> At least the idea of a right to use ideas for free, attacks the idea
>> of producing freedom through extending corporate property rights.

>No, I'd say, rather it does indeed extend corporate property rights to
>include the fruits of your leisurely labour. 

While I agree that attempts to extend corporate property rights have
included attempts to co-opt "the fruits of leisurely labour", and gain
more labour-power for free, putting that corporate activity together
with more popularist 'file-sharing' might require a more detailed
argument. 

>Autonomist marxist
>inspired, radical feminists have since the 1970s been working on
>recognition of the essense of the economy - the reproductive sphere -
>but instead it has been corporatised in the cloud. Now liberal feminists
>worship reproductive technology and capital, celebrating life itself as
>a commodity.

Which liberal feminists are you talking about? and what have they got to
say about file-sharing?

>That corporate ownership now extends to almost the entire realm of human
>existence has been greatly helped by the naive, technoworshipping
>tossers riding on a wave of wealth created by the californian ideology.

This may also be the case, but it may have little to do with
file-sharing or the ideologies of those who participate. Indeed, it
might be more logical to argue that unintentionally or not, they
challenge the boundaries of corporate property exclusions in a daily and
practical sense. Which is not to say it cannot cause artists problems as
well.

jon

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