Stealing ideas

A software program used to protect copyrighted material on both HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies has been circumvented. According to reports, a hacker using the name of “muslix64” released a tool called BackupHDDVD including its source code, and posted a video at Youtube showing other would-be hackers how a movie is decrypted and then played back from a hard disk drive.

It’s curious how little objection most people have to violations of copyrights. In fact, hackers like muslix64 are quick to brag to their peers about their prowess in breaking through the locks others put on their property. However, what this hacker has done is no different from inventing a better tool for stealing cars, and passing out free copies to would-be car thieves. I wonder how muslix64 would feel if his computer was hacked, the program he devised was stolen by another hacker, and that hacker claimed the idea was his own. No doubt muslix64 would feel outrage at the theft of his efforts. No doubt, he considers the idea to be his property.

Are ideas property? The core confusion in such issues is the lack of a precise definition of ‘property.’ The most useful, precise, and scientific definition I’ve come across is that created by the late Andrew Galambos. He defined property as “Man’s life and all non-procreative derivatives thereof.” He then went on to divide property into the sub-categories of primordial property (your body and mind), primary property (your ideas), and secondary property (the tangible things you create using your primordial and primary property). If we then agree that theft or stealing is the taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent, certainly muslix64 is facilitating and encouraging stealing.

That so many are oblivious to the principles of copyright is a sign of the lack of general understanding of the importance of the protection of property. This ignorance is understandable, given that people are culturally conditioned to believe in the sanctity of government, and in it’s current guise government operates on the premise that the need of the group justifies the theft of property from any and all individuals in the group. Politicians pass laws confiscating all forms of property without explaining why it’s all right for the state to take your property by force, while it’s not all right for individuals to do the same. Government steals your money (taxation), your ideas (it limits your exclusive right to your ideas by only limited copyrights and patents), and often enslaves your body (conscription, victimless-crime laws, etc.).

Just as the owners of the movies, music, and software are angered by the theft of their property, so every individual instinctively reacts with resentment and anger when his property is used or taken without his freely-given consent. On careful examination of history, it will be seen that all conflicts enveloping families, communities, and nations can be traced back to the real or perceived theft of property.

This brings us around to the heading for my blog, “Quest for Liberty,” and my appellation, “The Anarchist.” Galambos defined freedom as: “that condition that exists when all individuals have 100% control of their property,” while anarchy comes from the Greek, and means “no ruler,” or “no state.”

I call myself an anarchist in that I agree with H. L. Mencken who said: “I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty.” Members of The Sovereign Society share this belief. Theft in any form, whether by hackers or by governments, is wrong. I invite you to join The Sovereign Society, and share in the myriad of ideas that our members and our worldwide network of financial and privacy experts have developed to protect themselves, their privacy, and their financial assets. Click here to learn more.