Stiglitz, Chapter 4 [May 3] (Now with 1 less error)

It's not surprising that I found this chapter particularly interesting. Anything about intellectual property turns my head, from vintners fighting over trademarks in naming new wines to Myriad's rather fascinating licensing policies. Professor Harris's Biopolitics class actually goes through much of the back material regarding patent pools and compulsory licensing when it comes to these medical advances, so I was already at least somewhat familiar with the issues here.

With stats like this [2005], it's simple to see that pharmas do have a serious influence on Congress. On a personal note, I'm glad to see that Sen. Frist is mentioned here (why yes, I did just link to that unimpeachable academic resource known as Wikipedia). The former Senator had the honor of representing my state for quite some time, and I have the much reduced pleasure of being related to him. And if all vote-buying nights are as vicious as this, I'm sure the pharmaceutical industry will keep its influence for a long time. I certainly can't say I'd definitely have the stomach to resist that treatment.

Going on a tangent from Singer's scarce mentions of copyright here... While not nearly as important as the abuses going on with patents and how that's costing people their health and their lives, I think copyright is a vital subject to go over, even--especially--on the international scene. I'm sure our CTO agrees, as the university gets letters from the RIAA on a regular basis, and has had to resort to blocking otherwise benign file-sharing software like BitTorrent and (is it true?) IRC. And then there's Google's online library debacle; this article examines Microsoft joining the dogpile action there, possibly aiming for some favor among publishers taking the digital route AND strengthening the anti-Google coalition. Part of the whole problem is that so few people know exactly what Google is doing--many think they do, while others know they're at least half in the dark. Does Google even know? The RIAA has interesting tactics it uses when dealing with "thieves," including threats, harassment, leaning on ISPs to provide data, supporting illegal and harmful DRM software (hi, Sony!), and eliminating sites promoting their hot money-makers. Nevermind the effect of Warner trying to censor Dean Gray's mashup of Green Day's (get it?) "American Idiot" album, "American Edit." (By the way, American Edit is a fantastic album, and, in my opinion, far superior to American Idiot.)

That's more or less what my thoughts are a day after reading Chapter 4. I'm sure there will be more to come later.

Singer

I was rather interested to note that Singer totally dismisses inequality in incomes as a non-problem. Last term, I was in Prof. Eastwood's Social Revolutions class, where a couple of the points we discussed time after time was the domestic political instability rooted in classes with inequal incomes. Revolutions like the Glorious Revolution, the French Revolution the Russian Revolution, and even to an extent the Iranian Revolution of '79 came after relative periods of economic prosperity (though the policies the Pahlavi Shahs put forward in Iran came at the cost of an unstable, externalities-dependent economy) where income brackets may have even begun moving closer together. While Singer was undoubtably thinking of incomes moving apart, this too plays a role; "economic crisis" is one of the precipitating factors in several theories of revolution. Incomes previously moving closer together move apart... And something like envy rears its green-eyed head. While this doesn't cause revolutions, it is a contributing factor.

Globalized Justice

In this post, Sante raises an interesting question regarding internationalized justice, and Professor Dickovick brings up Pinochet in comments below.

If it were possible to try ordinary citizens of other countries for commiting crimes against your citizens, why not members of foreign governments, as well? It would be a blow to diplomacy in international relations' current structure; what kind of changes would it take to if not eliminate the global tension that would generate, then lessen it?