Opinions The Brown Daily Herald
Friday, December 3, 2010 | Page 11
On property rights and the marketplace of ideas hunter Fast Opinions Columnist In a recent column, Elizabeth Perez ’13 decried Amazon’s endorsement of the free exchange of ideas while bending to consumer pressure to remove highly controversial books from its offerings (“Corporate power trip,” Nov. 29). While this may make Amazon’s corporate leadership disingenuous and two-faced, in no way did Amazon infringe on anyone else’s rights by choosing which books could be sold on a website that it owns and operates. Central to Perez’s reasoning is the conflation of the right to read a work with the right to be sold a work by any vendor. While the former is enshrined in the First Amendment, the latter is itself a violation of the property rights of booksellers in that the right to trade always and everywhere includes the right not to trade, whatever the reason. This is the true meaning of free exchange. After all, even corporations as large as Amazon are owned by groups of individuals — for publicly-traded firms, shareholders. These individuals, as with those who run small independent bookstores, are under no obligation to use their resources to transmit ideas of which they disapprove. Indeed, the refusal to sell a certain work is often itself a form of expression. For instance, one would expect that a devout Muslim who runs a small religious
bookstore might be disinclined to carry Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” In not doing so, is the bookseller infringing on Rushdie’s rights or those of his readers? Absolutely not — what appears on the store’s shelves is largely a function of the bookseller’s conscience. Even if he were motivated by the bottom line and not religious fervor, it would be a violation of his rights to force him to offer Rushdie’s works to his pious clientele. Furthermore, anyone who wants to read Rushdie’s works is free to purchase them
controversial books that cannot find a home elsewhere. Due to the global reach of the Internet, such a vendor could reach all the same markets as Amazon. However, since moral crusaders would not form a major part of such a company’s consumer base by definition, protecting free speech would not endanger its ability to run profitably. Therefore, free expression and property rights can coexist harmoniously. Over time, the market will segment such that certain vendors, like Amazon, will cater to those
As WikiLeaks has recently demonstrated, the Internet has proven to be a remarkable tool for disseminating information in the face of suppression. from a competitor. Because Amazon does not hold a monopoly over the sale of books, the removal of works like “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure” from its catalog does not imply that these works are forever banned. Rather, anyone who wants to purchase a copy will simply have to buy from one of Amazon’s competitors. Even if every store on the face of the earth decided not to sell a certain controversial book, all hope is not lost. Any person in any reasonably free country can always start his or her own bookstore specifically to sell
who feel entitled to engage in moralistic witch hunts, while others will target a clientele that is smarter than that. Because people are free to purchase from suppliers that reflect their values, one does not need to demand that Amazon uphold the ideal of free expression in order to protect controversial — and occasionally important — ideas. As WikiLeaks has recently demonstrated, the Internet is a remarkable tool for disseminating information in the face of suppression. That being said, the free exchange of
ideas is severely threatened by the corporate interests behind the current attack on “net neutrality.” Perez mentions the campaign against the Internet’s tendency to treat data from different sources in a non-preferential way, but does not discuss the fact that it has far wider implications than the distribution of books on Amazon. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), now in the Senate Judiciary Committee, would give the American government the authority to shut down any website that engages in “infringing activities.” No government should be trusted with the power to censor the content of the Internet, in many ways the heart of modern civil society. Moreover, infringement could conceivably cover the state’s internal information as well. If the government can prevent the release of information that unelected bureaucrats feel should not see the light of day, then the cause of transparent government is lost. There is a problem in terms of corporate control over the exchange of ideas, but it is a much larger problem than whether or not Amazon decides to offer books about pedophilia. Amazon is fully within its rights to determine the content of its catalog, but no national government should be given — at the behest of Viacom and other corporate interests — the right to regulate the content of the entire World Wide Web.
Hunter Fast ‘12 is a lost econ junior who finds informational economics to be far more interesting.
Give thanks! By stephen wicken Opinions Columnist I have no doubt, dear reader, that you are a fabulously multicultural melange of intellectual vivacity and animal charm. We live, I heard somewhere, in an increasingly interconnected world, where groovy beings like you nibble Spanish pastries while sipping Argentine yerba mate tea, tapping your Chinese slipper-clad feet to Mongolian electro-pop. I’m sure your personal histor y is a rich tapestr y of cultures, styles and carnal positions. Certainly you’re fluent in three languages, competent in another two and know enough of another four to order the local delicacy flirtatiously in little hole-in-the-wall cafes. Some of us are not so effortlessly cosmopolitan. I myself, for example, despite half a decade spent as an alien (I like to think that I hide my antennas fairly well), remain a hopeless remnant of Ye Olde Worlde. Deeply fond as I am of Taco Bell, “30 Rock” and the Redskins, all pale in comparison with crumpets, Wodehouse and rugby. My (American) wife is under strict instructions to take extreme measures if ever she hears me use the word “pants” to refer to anything other than under wear. For your reading pleasure, I allow all the beautiful ‘u’s to be taken from my words and buzzing ‘z’s to be inserted in place of sensuous ‘s’s — but don’t think it doesn’t sting.
Let me say right now, however, through a mouth metaphorically still full of leftovers, that I love Thanksgiving. I say this despite — in fact, probably precisely because of — my cartoonish Englishness. As far as I’m aware, I’m the only member of my family to have crossed the Atlantic on a semi-permanent basis, so we’re not implicated in any of the horrors that came after the pilgrims sat down with the Native Americans. To me, therefore, Thanksgiving as a holiday means excessive caloric intake, excessive sitting and a dog show.
heady highs and some lows that I’d rather not contemplate. I spent the remainder of the pre-Brown decade at other universities, and one thing I’ve learned is that while lovers (yuck), friends and pizza are our main propellants through the occasionally murky waters of university life, they can’t do it all. (I’ve tried carr ying a backpack full of pizza around all day, and while it really does help get one through a boring lecture, it can also encourages others to question one’s personal hygiene in a way that undoes much of the good work
Allow me to give thanks publicly to a number of people around the University who have brightened many of my days on campus. My hope is that you’ll do likewise with the people who make your time a little more pleasant. The lack of gift-giving pressure makes it all the sweeter. One thing my antennas have picked up, however, is that Thanksgiving seldom involves Giving much Thanks. I get it. My family Christmases never saw us Mas much Christ either. But while still in my Tofurkey- and Holiday Spirit on the rocksaddled state, I’d like to use this final column of the year to, well, to give thanks. And what I’d really like is to encourage you, dear reader, to do the same. I’ve been at Brown for four-and-a-half years. That time has comprised some
done by all that cheesy, crusty goodness.) Allow me, then, to give thanks publicly to a number of people around the University who have brightened my 1,600-odd days on campus. It can’t encompass ever yone: My hope is that you’ll do likewise with the people who make your time a little more pleasant. (Think of it as a rogue Diamonds and Coal, but on a grad student salar y.) Paul Bergeron at the University pharmacy is always unfailingly friendly and helpful (as are all the pharmacy staff), and even once mentioned enjoying one of my previous columns, thus putting him among
the high-rolling company of my wife, my mother and … no one. All of us involved with the histor y department know ver y well that, regardless of tenure and fancy fellowships, Cherrie Guerzon, Mar y Beth Br yson and Julissa Bautista are in charge. Tr ying to ensure that a group of academics (and wannabe academics) do what they’re supposed to is like herding a gaggle of particularly vocal cats, and these ladies keep things under control with unfailing grace and good humor. The University librar y system is a labyrinthine institution full of fine people doing wonderful things to bring us books, digital collections and, erm, sofas. The circulation staff at the Rock frequently perform kind acts that make our lives easier. When one requires more specialist help, however, the Hay is the place. For those of us interested in European histor y and culture, Dominique Coulombe has long been a fabulous guide to the available resources. Thank you, then, to all of these people and ever yone else who helps to make the University feel more like a small college and less like the large corporation it in fact is. Thank you for sharing your expertise and your generosity of spirit. And thank you for your tact in never mentioning my antennas.
Stephen Wicken GS, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in history, would also like to thank you for reading this far. He can be reached at stephen_wicken@ brown.edu.