By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026It's hard to find a commonality amongst all these wildly different concepts, but a couple years ago, I hit on a working definition of "IP" that seems to cover all the bases. 8/ 191
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026I say that "IP" means "any rule, law or policy that allows a company to exert control over its critics, competitors or customers": locusmag.com/2020/09/cory... Put that way, it's easy to see why "IP" would be such a central organizing principle in a modern, end-stage capitalist world. 9/locusmag.comCory Doctorow: IPYou’ve probably heard of “open source software.” If you pay attention to the politics of this stuff, you might have heard of “free software” and even know a little ab… 1217
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 08/04/2026But even though "IP" is treated as a firm's most important asset, it's actually far less important than another intangible: *process knowledge*. 10/ 1183
