Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

Wired 12.02: Lessig says access to drugs in the third world not an IP issue

search

k
Picture of k
My Blog
My Profile
My Audience
My Sources
Send Me a Message

sponsored links

k's topics
Arts
  Literature
   Fiction
   Non-Fiction
   Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature
  Movies
  Music
   Pop
   Electronic Music
   Rap & Hip Hop
   Indie Rock
   Jazz
   Punk
   Vocalist
  Photography
  TV
Business
  Tech Industry
  Management
  Markets & Investing
Games
  Video Games
   PC Video Games
Health and Wellness
  Fitness
  Medicine
  Nutrition
  Weight Loss
Home and Garden
  Cooking
  Holidays
  Parenting
Miscellaneous
  Humor
Current Events
  War on Terrorism
  Elections
Recreation
  Cars and Trucks
  Martial Arts
  Camping and Hiking
  Travel
Local Information
  United States
   Atlanta
Science
  Astronomy
  Biology
  Chemistry
  Environment
  Geology
  History
  Math
  Medicine
  Nano Tech
  Physics
Society
  Activism
  Crime
  Economics
  Futurism
  International Relations
  Politics and Law
   Civil Liberties
    Internet Civil Liberties
   Intellectual Property
  Media
   Blogging
  Military
  Philosophy
  Relationships
  Religion
Sports
  Football
  Skiing & Snowboarding
Technology
  Biotechnology
  Computers
   Computer Security
   Cyber-Culture
   PC Hardware
   Human Computer Interaction
   Knowledge Management
   Computer Networking
   Computing Platforms
    Macintosh
    Linux
    Microsoft Windows
   Software Development
    Open Source Development
    Perl Programming
  Military Technology
  High Tech Developments

support us

Get MemeStreams Stuff!


 
Wired 12.02: Lessig says access to drugs in the third world not an IP issue
Topic: Intellectual Property 11:37 am EST, Feb  9, 2004

] What's needed here is shame. Politicians know that most
] voters understand squat about how monopolies work best.
] They also know that there won't be a rally on Capitol
] Hill in favor of price discrimination. It is therefore
] cheap to scold big pharma for the "windfall profits" made
] by charging so much more for drugs in the US than in
] other countries. Cheap, and criminal. This behavior by
] politicians simply denies medicine to those who need it
] most.
]
]
] If politicians don't like the logic of price
] discrimination, then let them fund pharmaceutical
] research in a different way. Abolish drug patents, and
] grant rewards for great inventions, or give huge
] subsidies to universities and companies to develop new
] medicines. There are many who believe that would be a
] less expensive, more effective system. And there are many
] who believe that patents in any case, and in every case,
] do more harm than good.

[ A good analysis by Lessig... hits on a major problem with politics in general. The system makes it easy to say you "stand for" something that's actually intractible in the real political world. Seems like there should be a Consumer-Reports for politicians, comparing their stated positions to their real actions, calculating a "waffle score" for how often they are self-contradictory perhaps. My cynical side argues that no one would bother to use it, or partisans would refute it's accuracy... -k]

Wired 12.02: Lessig says access to drugs in the third world not an IP issue



 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics
RSS2.0