[...] In the Information Age, access to and control over knowledge and ideas has become a potent new source of power.

Like nature, existing nature is a commons that has been built up over millennia. Its opportunity cost is zero which means that its price should in theory also be zero. But in modern economies a complex web of intellectual property rights ensure that artificial scarcity is imposed and profits are protected - just as the floodgates of abundance should be being pried open.

Here the task for the left is to develop a serious alternative to contemporary intellectual property regimes. It is a fantasy to think that the present system of intellectual property rights can be easily dismantled. Aside from anything else, they are deeply ingrained in domestic and international legal systems. [...]

Underpinning all of these proposals is a recognition that property rights are not neutral or fixed. Property relations invariably reflect power and class relations in society. [...]