With roots in the laws of seventeenth and eighteenth-century England, intellectual property protections go back to the beginnings of capitalism itself. Read the article Locked Out by Sean Andrews appearing in Jacobin, a magazine of culture and polemic.
Also listen to the interview of Sean Andrews on Against the Grain from KPFA. Against the Grain is a radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by C.S. Soong.