• Muad'DibberOPMA
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    4 years ago

    Bill Gates’s position on intellectual property was consistent with a lifelong ideological commitment to knowledge monopolies, forged during a vengeful teenage crusade against the open-source programming culture of the 1970s. As it happens, a novel use of one category of intellectual property—copyright, applied to computer code—made Gates the richest man in the world for most of two decades beginning in 1995. That same year, the WTO went into effect, chaining the developing world to intellectual property rules written by a handful of executives from the U.S. pharmaceutical, entertainment, and software industries.

    • loathsome dongeaterA
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      4 years ago

      I feel people have been completely housebroken into respecting IP laws as a word of god. This guy who made his billions by abusing IP laws and forming monopolies is one of the few people shaping international vaccine policy and everyone seems to be okay with it.

      • mullapoo
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        4 years ago

        The vast majority of countries in the global south are advocating for an IP waiver. It’s everybody against the empire.

        • loathsome dongeaterA
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          4 years ago

          Yeah you’re correct. I wasn’t precise at all when I said “people” so that’s my bad.

          • mullapoo
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            4 years ago

            Yea there’s no way the western press would report on this. It’s crazy to think that the countries who voted “yes” represent the majority of people on earth, and yet nothing is happening.

      • Muad'DibberOPMA
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        4 years ago

        The money from his foundation has corrupted so many public health organizations… it’s really sad.