Openness, Web 2.0 and the Ethic of Sharing

Presentation at Law 2.0?, SCL, London
2007-09-17

Rufus Pollock

[Open Knowledge Foundation]
[Emmanuel College Cambridge]
~ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License v3.0 ~

1. Introduction

What is Open Knowledge?





Knowledge = Content/Code/Data/Information

Open = Freedom to Use / Re-use / Redistribute

2. Access and Use

Southey and Wat Tyler

Robert Southey, the Poet
DateEditionPrice (shillings)Production
1817 Normal price of a book of this length 10.15 500 or 1000
1817 Sherwood's editions 2 na
1817 Hone's Editions with explanatory notes 1 na
1817 Fairburn's Editions 1 na
1817 Bailey's edition 1 na
1817 Carlile's editiona na 20000 sold
1817 Sherwin's edition 0.25 na
Another Sherwin Edition 0.16 na
Total immediate saleb Believed to be ~60000
c.1817 Fordyce of Newcastle's Edition na na
1830s Watson's editionc 0.18 na
1830s Cousin's editions 0.16 post free na
1840s Cleave's editions 0.16 na
1850s Sales in Manchesterd na 450 a week
Southey's `Wat Tyler', all pirated. (Source: St Clair, Table 16.1 p. 318)

Access to Medicines: The case of Quinolones in India

Estimated Impact of the Introduction of Product Patents for Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics in India as a result of TRIPS requirement of Pharmaceutical Product Patents
Loss Scenario Consumer Losses Domestic Producer Losses Foreign Producer Gains
Medium (no upward price adjustments as a result of product withdrawals) - 495 -50 9.4

3. Production

Benefits are Less Obvious

But Still There

Especially for Industries that are Cumulative and/or Componentized

Openness Allows for Low Transaction Costs and Rapid Reuse

Proprietary Rights can Result in Hold-Up and Reduced Follow-on Innovation

AT&T and Foreign Devices

The Hush-a-phone The Carterfone

The Internet and the World-Wide-Web

US Internet Backbone


US Internet Backbone c. 1999

Google

Google.com Front Page


Selling Attention but Built on an `Open' Web

The Dictator and the Anarchist

Dictatorship: Benefits and Limitations

Guido Van Rossum


Guido Van Rossum: Creator of the Python Programming Language and Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL)

Anarchy: Benefits and Limitations

Robert Nozick's Anarchy State and Utopia

With Openness We Can Get the Best of Both Worlds

4. Community and Sharing

Wealth and Happiness 

    +-------------+--------------+ +---------------+
    |  Income     |  Top Quarter | | Bottom Quarter|
    +-------------+--------------+ +-------+-------+
    |   Year      |  1975 | 1998 | |  1975 |  1998 |
    +-------------+-------+------+ +-------+-------+
    | Very happy  |   39  |  37  | |   19  |   16  |
    +-------------+-------+------+ +-------+-------+
    |Pretty happy |   53  |  57  | |   51  |   53  |
    +-------------+-------+------+ +-------+-------+
    |Not too happy|    8  |  6   | |   30  |   31  |
    +-------------+-------+------+ +-------+-------+

     Happiness in the US: By Income (Source: GSS)
         (Over same period GDP approx doubled)

The Value of Sharing

Squared circle spiral courtesy of CrazyDad and others.

The Irresistible Rise of the Sharing Economy

5. Summing Up