Post
Topic
Board Legal
Re: Are Bitcoin's virtual property?
by
Jutarul
on 14/12/2012, 19:46:22 UTC
Do you think that bitcoins aren't property or are you just trying to argue something else at this point?
No - as mentioned above I think bitcoins are information about rights which full-fill the key characteristics we associate with property. The novelty about bitcoin versus other kinds of digital content (e.g. music files) is that ownership is enforceable through the PKI. If you need a law which prohibits others from using your digital content there is not a strong sense of ownership - it's like trying to sell 2 hours of sunlight a day - you don't own the sun - but you may be able to control the access to sunlight. But that doesn't mean it's not shining.

The problem I have with the way "intellectual property" is used is that it is applied towards items which do not possess key characteristics of properties out of the box. Then you have complicated laws and PIPA and SOPA which do more harm than good. Items which do not possess characteristics of property can be considered to be in the public domain, where you are the rightful person to receive monetary contributions. I think that's what Stallman is getting at. Punishing people for watching a movie, or sharing a song for free is nonsense if there was no intended money flow or business. It serves no purpose.

Anyway - that's all not a problem with bitcoin - because ownership can be enforced through PKI.