Hacker News Reader

Comment by msandford | Hacker News Reader

If we're going to suggest that code and physical property are the same, then I would ask you to touch code for me.

If you can do that I'm prepared to give code all the same rights as traditional property. If you can't then you might consider that physical goods and intellectual ones aren't the same and MAYBE different rules should apply.

View on HN

May I access your bank account and transfer some untouchable numbers to mine?

Those numbers are representative of real actual things.

What real actual things is the code representative of?

Profits, which are as real as your money, because they are both money.

Man that is one tortured definition. The mental gymnastics. Impressive!

Are you claiming that someone copying proprietary trading software cannot lead to a loss of profits?

It's necessary but not sufficient for a loss of profits.

Further I was talking about code in general. To have separate laws or treatment of "financial" code versus "regular" code would be pretty silly. How would you even draw the line between the two?

You must be very good at yoga because that's a huge stretch. Property and intellectual property are completely different things to the point that intellectual property is a misnomer.

The money in your bank account is an IOU. It doesn't represent physical money at all.

Technically you're right of course. But functionally there's no difference. I go to the bank and ask for $1000 and they give me the cash and deduct the balance from my account. What their reserve ratio is immaterial most of the time. Except during crises and bank runs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com