As I see it: enclosing identity

Abstract

Abstract This article claims that an enclosure of the commons is underway, which reaches far beyond intellectual property, to a point where, through profiling, identity has itself become enclosed property that can be owned by another. With a detour through the natures of both money and innovation, this paper looks at the imperative driving intellectual property rights. By introducing the notion of biopiracy, it shows how invasion of privacy is justified, and ends with a world of rapacious, state-aided privatization of enclosed identity: the ultimate identity theft.