The first would be for temporary monopolies on the production of ideas to the point that the investment is recompensed and then have the product open to the public.
Indeed, this seemed to be the original idea behind patents--before they were corrupted by the political process.
I'm not too crazy about the government getting involved in compensating people for their IP, of course (and not just for the reasons you mention), but I do agree that solutions exist. The biggest motivation would come from open competition in the market, but I think we're sadly past that for computer desktops. I also don't have much confidence in the technical acumen of the average computer user to properly secure their desktop systems, whether they're using Windows, Mac or Un*x. Once you introduce a layer of visual abstraction to improve usability, you open up countless possibilities for security compromises. And no amount of secure open-source software will prevent some idiots from writing their password on a sticky note and pasting it to their monitor. ;-)
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Date: 2008-05-19 03:25 pm (UTC)Indeed, this seemed to be the original idea behind patents--before they were corrupted by the political process.
I'm not too crazy about the government getting involved in compensating people for their IP, of course (and not just for the reasons you mention), but I do agree that solutions exist. The biggest motivation would come from open competition in the market, but I think we're sadly past that for computer desktops. I also don't have much confidence in the technical acumen of the average computer user to properly secure their desktop systems, whether they're using Windows, Mac or Un*x. Once you introduce a layer of visual abstraction to improve usability, you open up countless possibilities for security compromises. And no amount of secure open-source software will prevent some idiots from writing their password on a sticky note and pasting it to their monitor. ;-)