Info-communism? Ownership and freedom in the digital economy

This paper takes a new look at the debate over commons and property in information and communications. It warns against recreating the old communist√capitalist ideological divide by framing the movement for informational commons as "info-communist." The spectre of communism haunts the movement because of an unresolved ideological tension in its ethical and philosophical foundations. The case for free software and open information contains both deontological appeals to the virtues of sharing, and consequentialist arguments against the growing intrusiveness of the institutional and technological mechanisms used to enforce exclusivity in the digital economy.

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2058/1956