[-empyre-] Intellectual property: hacking communities and traditional knowledge

[Rob Myers]

On 27/04/14 10:13 AM, pedro wrote:
> 
> you will find here reference to the proposal of a Peer Production
> License license which attempts to respond to the problematics you mention.
> http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan#The_potential_role_of_commons-based_reciprocity_licenses_to_protect_traditional_knowledge

The danger of adopting a socialist critique of capital (implemented as a
discriminatory license that presupposes particular economic forms for
traditional knowledge) is that doing so may constitute simply moar
colonialism.

Where traditional knowldge can be copyrighted, copyleft can be used to
prevent the enclosure of traditional knowledge by private interests and
to return any value in kind generated. But it cannot prevent the
diffusion of trditional knowledge into settler societies (...its
cultural appropriation).

Where knowledge is both traditional and secret I think a better approach
would be to form a trust or novel corporation and use trade secret law.

It's easy to imagine incompatible discriminatory licenses for separate
traditions but these would not be free or open. Despite this I'd be very
interested to see any discriminatory licenses for particular traditions.
I think that would be a neat hack despite my political misgivings.

- Rob.