Why Content Is a Public Good

A friend of mine named Robert Hettinga has long championed the concept of "recursive auctions." The first copy of a piece of information is the most valuable. Subsequent copies are less valuable. Eventually the copies lose all novelty and reach a value of zero, or even a negative value because they occupy space which could otherwise store more valuable information.

The original producer of information auctions the first copy to the highest bidder. Anyone who buys a copy owns that copy, and I mean ownership in the strong sense of having an exclusive right of use or disposal. In particular, the owner has the right to sell a copy of his property to other bidders. The price of subsequent copies will tend to decline, though not always.

Owners of information may thus recoup or exceed their original cost basis by selling copies of their property.

Note well that when I say you own a copy of some information, I mean precisely a physical copy -- a specific pattern of subatomic particles in your physical possession. I am not talking about ownership of "abstract information" or "ideas." I am talking pure physics here.

Some producers of information will choose not to sell it, but will instead profit from it in other ways. This is called a "trade secret." (Examples: the formulas for Coca Cola and KFC.)

I oppose "public funding" because it means putting people in prison for not paying. This is lazy and unimaginative. I recommend that you account for free riders as a cost of doing business. If you can't find a way to reduce or overcome that cost, do something else.