EarthStation5 is a peer-to-peer (p2p) filesharing application, downloadable from its company, located... in Jenin, in the West Bank. The firm is using the region as a form of offshore datahaven, with an eye towards ploughing proceeds back into the community. The two worlds of the intellectual property struggles and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict meet up. One can only hope we don't see a return of that awful trope, linking p2p and terrorism. This is better:
Our group is made up of many people, Jordanians, Palestinians, Indians, Americans, Russians and Israelis. Some of us are Jewish, some Christians, some Hindus and other of us are Muslim.
Make it three worlds: the site's loaded with sf goodies, from space pix to rhetoric about evil empires. The overall effect: life is cyberpunk, part 27.
It is interesting that (according to Earthstation 5's owners) the Palestinian Authority's IP regulations protect Palestinian copyrights more than foreign ones.
It seems to me the only way this type of plan could work could work would be to have economic independence as well, so the state couldn't be pressured into changing IP law. Arguably a different currency scheme (but the history of digital cash shows little room for hope here).
Posted by: Steven | August 24, 2003 at 09:12
Do you see two models out there: national IP (jumped-up mercantilism) and international (WIPO mapping a mix of Euro and US IP onto the world)?
Posted by: Bryan | August 24, 2003 at 11:01