Quote:
Originally Posted by sircastor
In modern western society, we define property as being a natural right. That property right starts with yourself, your physical body and what you choose to do with your time, your labor. From there we extend that property right out: You have right to the work that you do in a field. If you labor to build a house, it is yours by virtue of the effort and agency that went into its construction.
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The foundation of this argument feels like it's on shaky ground to me. First off, I'm not sure what is meant by a "natural" right, and I'm even less sure that "property" would be considered one of them.
I'd also really doubt that your body would be considered as part of your "property rights". That would be covered under some other natural right. So the rest of that extension out to your time and labour has to go too.
As to "owning" a house because you built it? I'd say that you own the house more because you purchased the raw materials and the land than anything else. If you took the raw material off my neighbour's front lawn, and built the house on my front lawn, you'd have a hard time claiming the house as your own - legally, at least. Conversely, if you bought the land, the raw materials and had someone else build the house for you on your land, it would still be your house.
Physical property ownership stands by itself, and it fairly easy to grasp. You don't need to re-interpret it as some extension of a god-given human right in order to justify it and make reasonable. The only reason I can see for doing that is to make it mystical and therefore easier to drag "ideas" into the realm of "property".
I'll repeat this again, since someone has already quoted the section of the US constitution that deals with this: Copyright laws exist to foster an environment that encourages creators to create new creations and therefore enrich society. NOT to defend some "natural right" of property ownership.
So the question about copyright should never be, "What's good or fair for the authors?", but "What's best for society?", or "What's the best way to enrich our society with new creations?".