Bill “McCarthy” Gates

So, Bill Gates apparently thinks that people with different notions of intellectual property from him are commies. This kind of bounces off of me, since as a Canadian I am considered a crypto-communist by most Americans anyway, and as a leftist NDP I’m considered a bit of a communist by lots of Canadians too, but it’s a less frivolous matter to some. Let’s review.

First off, here’s the actual quote from the Gates interview linked above:

There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises.

Over at BoingBoing, Xeni et. al. are embracing this label, reacting with some clever copyleft communist visuals.

Now, I think this is great in a “if this be a crime then we should all be criminals for this cause” way. But, like I said, I’m used to being humourously labelled a commie, so the idea of humourously “taking back” the label amuses me.

However, the always erudite PNH, thinks this “creative communist” meme-ery is wrong-headed. Patrick’s mind is like a scalpel, and he does not suffer fools. (Actually back in the day on GEnie one of my favourite games was watching Patrick verbally disassemble some fool or other. I was that fool once, and it was an unpleasant and educational experience.)

While it saddens me to think that some of Patrick’s points about perception and framing are correct, because they contain an unspoken implication about the quality of critical thinking skills of the average American, I can’t argue with any of them. (There are several salient points in the comments to his post as well, so be sure to read them also.)

The real story is that a relaxed intellectual-property regime is one of the things that made America a great power, and that the kind of ultra-restrictive, we-own-everything-forever IP now being promoted by Hollywood is in fact the new, alien, and un-American thing.

The bad guys’ basic strategy is to portray themselves as defending the status quo while in fact effecting a revolutionary change. When you, their opponents, allow yourself to be defined as the alien, you’re doing exactly what they want you to do, and you lose.

I also like the way Dan Gilmor, on his new “distributed journalism” blog, takes Gates apart:

The larger truth — a principle for which Gates so frequently demonstrates such contempt — is that the vast, vast majority of people who find fault with today’s system still want to reward creators for their work, financially and otherwise. But we also want a system that balances the rights of creators with the rights and needs of the larger society.

Gates and his allies in the entertainment cartel want absolute control. For them, fair use and other societal benefits are what the intellectual property holders deem them to be.

So Dan wants to make sure we all remember that “needs of the larger society” is an important part of the equation, and Patrick wants us to make sure we make it extremely clear that accounting for those needs is part of a proud tradition that has only recently been usurped.

Works for me.