This is an excellent article; as always, Cory Doctorow succinctly and perceptively cuts to the core of the matter.
From my own observations over recent years, I've come to the conclusion that the IP, copyright, patent and DRM issues that Doctorow discusses in this article are even worse than he has let on about (perhaps he's worried about overly frightening the horses and or is worried that his opponents would attempt to discredit him if he spilled all the beans).
In Western countries and especially the US, the field of software and so-called IP has become so monopolistic and proprietary—and ordinary users so disempowered from the consequences thereof that they're having not only a serious negative effect on productivity and the national economy but also they're dysfunctional to the extent that they even threaten national security.
Much software development is technically moribund (or it's more of the same). Time limits me to cite only one example here—the multiple, never-ending security breaches that we see day-by-day—breaches that we're never able to manage properly or get on top of—or engineer our way out of. (There, too, are dozens more examples.)
Whilst Western corporations maul both one another as well as poor long-suffering users over IP licenses, copyright and patent disputes that are, by nature, intrinsically trivial, China's 'command' economy is able to bypass all that nonsense and move on regardless—for the Chinese, it's IP be damned, and it's patently obvious that that attitude is benefiting them mightily.
China pays lip service to international copyright law but behind the scenes it does the exact opposite despite the fact that everyone knows it. As we've seen over the past 30 or so years, China has stolen more Western IP than would fill many a volume of old-fashioned telephone directories and all that Western countries have ever done in response is to make token complaints and objections which never amount to anything more than a kowtowing whimper. Clearly if you're big and frightening enough, no one's game enough to complain (or do anything) about the fact that one's ideas were stolen). To make matters worse, the West even has the utter damned hypocrisy to buy manufactured product from China that was made using this pirated technology! (It all reminds me a bit of Neville Chamberlain and the appeasement of Hitler.)
It seems to me that unless the West (and again, especially the US) pulls its collective head in over this IP nonsense and dismisses most of it—all the unfair stuff—then China Inc. will continue to gain an even further technological march upon us.
To catch up to China's manufacturing technology and output, the US and other Western nations need to adopt a capitalist command economy (à la China's and along the lines the US implemented in WWII). Even the Chinese have never equaled the heights the US achieved in manufacturing during WWII:
"William S. Knudsen, an automotive industry executive who was made Chairman of the Office of Production Management and member of the National Defense Advisory Commission by the Roosevelt administration to organize war production, said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."
In any such scenario, the current unfair and very unreasonable IP/copyright/patent laws (and concomitant wars) wouldn’t be tolerated. Post COVID-19, it'd make sense to implement such a scheme to rebuild the economy.
Right, it's only a pipe dream—we no longer have people of sufficient aptitude, caliber and with solid ethics of the likes of FDR, Harry Hopkins, Vannevar Bush (FDR’s top science advisor), Fredrick Terman, LTG Leslie R. Groves, William S. Knudsen et al to undertake such an ambitious project.
But whichever system of ethics compels us to "catch up to China's manufacturing technology and output" and "smother the 'enemy' in an avalanche of production" (quotes mine) sounds more like a civilizational suicide pact than a vision for the future.
Our smothering of the planet with production is the most immediate existential threat we face.
Oh dear, one has to so literal on posts these days. We were talking IP/software here - so 'poduction' here refers to software/organization. The WWII analogy/link has to do with what's possible if the country really tries - or has its back to the wall as it does now!
Even if I had been referring to manufactured hardware type goods - which I wasn't - ramping local production would only replace/reestablish what we lost to China over past decades. It would not be a world net increase in production as we'd be buying less from China (they won't make stuff if we're not buying).
There's many other reasons too for local production: jobs, better quality products, reskilling the workforce, strategic interests, etc.
I'm sorry for assuming your meaning, I didn't realize you meant to refer only to software. I do agree that we could benefit from re-localizing. I'd prefer it not come wrapped in a new cold war, though. We have all the motivation needed for mass mobilization in ecological crisis, if we could see or feel it more directly.
Right. I can't agree with you more about smothering the planet in mostly-unnecessary stuff. I'm truly fed up with the fact that almost every appliance or bit of gear we buy is designed with a short limited life and not meant to be serviced. No wonder the world is awash with e-waste and similar broken/junked stuff. Once, just about every bit of electronics I bought or owned I could fix, now I can't even open up gear without smashing my way inside because it's glued up or snapped shut with one-use-only one-way snap-lock catches, etc. It's a damn disgrace.
Two weeks ago the USB socket on my Netgear modem became intermittent and I literally had to smash my way through the plastic case to get inside to gain access to the circuit board. Unfortunately, in doing so I damaged something else which (I think) has rendered it useless (I'll know for sure when I get a chance to take a microscope to the PWA). The fact remains that I haven't been able change a 20 cent socket and to save time I've had to buy a new device!
It seems to me that green and ecological movements should do more in this area to stop the millions of tons of e-waste—and getting behind Right to Repair movements is a good place to start.
From my own observations over recent years, I've come to the conclusion that the IP, copyright, patent and DRM issues that Doctorow discusses in this article are even worse than he has let on about (perhaps he's worried about overly frightening the horses and or is worried that his opponents would attempt to discredit him if he spilled all the beans).
In Western countries and especially the US, the field of software and so-called IP has become so monopolistic and proprietary—and ordinary users so disempowered from the consequences thereof that they're having not only a serious negative effect on productivity and the national economy but also they're dysfunctional to the extent that they even threaten national security.
Much software development is technically moribund (or it's more of the same). Time limits me to cite only one example here—the multiple, never-ending security breaches that we see day-by-day—breaches that we're never able to manage properly or get on top of—or engineer our way out of. (There, too, are dozens more examples.)
Whilst Western corporations maul both one another as well as poor long-suffering users over IP licenses, copyright and patent disputes that are, by nature, intrinsically trivial, China's 'command' economy is able to bypass all that nonsense and move on regardless—for the Chinese, it's IP be damned, and it's patently obvious that that attitude is benefiting them mightily.
China pays lip service to international copyright law but behind the scenes it does the exact opposite despite the fact that everyone knows it. As we've seen over the past 30 or so years, China has stolen more Western IP than would fill many a volume of old-fashioned telephone directories and all that Western countries have ever done in response is to make token complaints and objections which never amount to anything more than a kowtowing whimper. Clearly if you're big and frightening enough, no one's game enough to complain (or do anything) about the fact that one's ideas were stolen). To make matters worse, the West even has the utter damned hypocrisy to buy manufactured product from China that was made using this pirated technology! (It all reminds me a bit of Neville Chamberlain and the appeasement of Hitler.)
It seems to me that unless the West (and again, especially the US) pulls its collective head in over this IP nonsense and dismisses most of it—all the unfair stuff—then China Inc. will continue to gain an even further technological march upon us.
To catch up to China's manufacturing technology and output, the US and other Western nations need to adopt a capitalist command economy (à la China's and along the lines the US implemented in WWII). Even the Chinese have never equaled the heights the US achieved in manufacturing during WWII:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_aircraft_product...
"William S. Knudsen, an automotive industry executive who was made Chairman of the Office of Production Management and member of the National Defense Advisory Commission by the Roosevelt administration to organize war production, said, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."
https://civilianmilitaryintelligencegroup.com/8695/us-indust...
In any such scenario, the current unfair and very unreasonable IP/copyright/patent laws (and concomitant wars) wouldn’t be tolerated. Post COVID-19, it'd make sense to implement such a scheme to rebuild the economy.
Right, it's only a pipe dream—we no longer have people of sufficient aptitude, caliber and with solid ethics of the likes of FDR, Harry Hopkins, Vannevar Bush (FDR’s top science advisor), Fredrick Terman, LTG Leslie R. Groves, William S. Knudsen et al to undertake such an ambitious project.