[12237] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: DeCSS, crypto, law, and economics
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Rescorla)
Wed Jan 8 11:32:34 2003
To: "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com>
Cc: cryptography@wasabisystems.com
Reply-To: EKR <ekr@rtfm.com>
From: Eric Rescorla <ekr@rtfm.com>
Date: 08 Jan 2003 08:17:41 -0800
In-Reply-To: <20030108061832.GC18501@ganymede>
"Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com> writes:
> on Tue, Jan 07, 2003 at 04:10:27PM -0800, Eric Rescorla (ekr@rtfm.com) wrote:
> > However, if he can price discriminate, he can sell two copies,
> > one at 3 and one at 6. This makes it profitable for him to
> > produce the book.
>
> ...and the usual mechanism is to produce various versions of the book:
>
> - A premium hardcover.
> - A "trade paperback".
> - A pulp paperback.
> - A premeium, leather-bound, acid-free archival quality, hand-signed,
> and specially illustrated, collectors edition.
Well, that's certainly one option. However, there are certainly
other examples, such as senior citizens discounts.
> Where I see a fundamental conflict on the two classic cypherpunk issues
> of free access to data, but protection of privacy, is this:
>
> - Much of the fair use / DRM industry activity seeks to limit
> access to data which is inherently public.
>
> - Much of the privacy debate (now wrapped in the mantel of national
> security, though marketing data still plays a major role) seeks to
> make public data which is inherently private, anonymous, or both.
>
> I see the traditional cypherpunks line in both cases as being more
> closely aligned with "natural state" -- how things would be without
> major intervention -- and thus more sympathetic.
I think part of the point here is that legal measures to enforce price
discrimination might well be Pareto-dominant in some cases. When
there is a conflict between liberty and Pareto dominance, economists
get a headache. [1]
-Ekr
[1] Obligatory reference. Amartya Sen "On the impossibility of the
Paretial liberal".
--
[Eric Rescorla ekr@rtfm.com]
http://www.rtfm.com/
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