Z:gnu-www-ja-reevaluating-copyright--43e356-Barlow suggested that our intu/en

Barlow suggested that our intuitions based on physical objects as property do not transfer to information as property because information is &ldquo;abstract.&rdquo; As Steven Winter [5] remarked, abstract property has existed for centuries. Shares in a company, commodity futures, and even paper money, are forms of property that are more or less abstract. Barlow and others who argue that information should be free do not reject these other kinds of abstract property. Clearly, the crucial difference between information and acceptable kinds of property is not abstractness per se. So what is it? I propose a simple and practical explanation.