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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026

"Intellectual property" was once an obscure legal backwater. Today, it is *the* dominant area of political economy, the organizing regime for almost all of our tech regulation, and the most valuable - and most controversial - aspect of global trade policy: pluralistic.net/2026/04/01/m... 1/

A woman washing dishes by hand in a rural, early 20th century shack. In the foreground is a jumble of tortured golgthan skeletons ganked from a Dore Old Testament engraving. Through the window in the back of the shack, we see a detail from another Dore Old Testament engraving: bodies escaping The Flood.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: pluralistic.net/2026/04/08/p... 2/

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026

Despite (or perhaps because of) its centrality, "intellectual property" is one of those maddeningly vague terms that applies to many different legal doctrines, as well as a set of nebulous, abstract thought-objects that do *not* qualify for legal protection. 3/

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