Letter 1
From: Bo Andersen
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2020 7:46 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: A Sends B a Letter Through the Mail; Who Owns That Letter?
Hi Walter,
Thanks for once again for all your posts.
Now this one is interesting. I agree that once A has sent the letter/e-mail it does no longer belong to him. However, I still think that my e-mail address does belong to me. By sending someone like B an e-mail does not entitle B to publish my e-mail address to everyone else on the Internet. I value my privacy and I only give out my phone number, address and e-mail address to people I want to have that information. My way out could be to use an obfuscated e-mail every time I communicate but that makes no sense to me.
In short, I believe the content of my e-mail to B is now no longer my property. However, my personal information is.
Thoughts?
Thanks
/Bo
Letter 2
On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 12:45 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Bo:
Your e mail address is akin to your street address. If you (snail) mail me a letter with your home address in the upper left hand corner of the envelope, I’ll have that info. I fail to see the relevant difference between that and you e mailing me a message, and now I have your e mail address. On the libertarian view of information, intellectual property which include such information, see this:
Boldrin and Levine, 2008; Block, 2014; De Wachter, 2013; Kinsella, 2001, 2008, 2012; Long, 1995; Menell, 2007A, 2007B; Mukherjee and Block, 2012; Navabi, 2015; Palmer, 1989.
Boldrin, Michele and David K. Levine. 2008. Against Intellectual Monopoly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/against.htm; http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm; http://mises.org/store/Against-Intellectual-Monopoly-P552.aspx
Block, Walter E. 2014. “Part 8, Block versus Wenzel on Intellectual Property.” October 9;
http://www.targetliberty.com/2014/10/part-8-block-versus-wenzel-on.html#more
De Wachter, Joren. 2013. “IP is a thought crime.” at TEDxLeuven. June 6;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=E5BOBs3Nmbw
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2001. “Against Intellectual Property,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter, pp. 1-53; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2008. Against Intellectual Property. Auburn, AL: The Mises Institute.
https://mises.org/library/against-intellectual-property-0
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2012. “Economic Freedom of the World Rankings and Intellectual Property: The United States’ Bad Ranking is Even Worse Than Reported.” http://c4sif.org/2012/09/economic-freedom-of-the-world-indexes-and-intellectual-property-the-united-states-bad-ranking-is-even-worse-than-reported/
Long, Roderick. 1995. “The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights.” Formulations. Vol. 3, No. 1, Autumn; http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “Intellectual Property and the Property Rights Movement.” Regulation, Fall; http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv30n3/v30n3-6.pdf
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “The Property Rights Movement’s Embrace of Intellectual Property: True Love or Doomed Relationship?” Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 34.
Mukherjee, Jay and Walter E. Block. 2012. “Libertarians and the Catholic Church on Intellectual Property Laws.” Journal of Political Philosophy Las Torres de Lucca. Issue No. 1, July-December, pp. 59-75;
Navabi, Ash. 2015. “To Taylor, Love Freedom.” June 23;
https://mises.ca/posts/blog/to-taylor-love-freedom/
Palmer, Tom. 1989. “Intellectual Property: A Non-Posnerian Law and Economics Approach” Hamline Law Review, Spring, Vol 12 No. 2.
Letter 3
From: Bo Andersen
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 9:04 AM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: A Sends B a Letter Through the Mail; Who Owns That Letter?
Dear Walter,
Thanks for putting my thinking straight. I must’ve been tired. Of course, there’s no right to privacy except for the right not to have my property invaded.
Thanks for your time.
/Bo
2:57 am on May 7, 2020
