Online resources should benefit all

Page 5

Dear Editor:

As an economist and a populist, Nova Scotia's education Minister Jamie Muir's warning "that schools may be forced to pay for any online materials used in class" is a matter of concern to me.

We need intellectual property to accrue to the society that spawns it. We need knowledge to remain in the hands of the public and public institutions.

For far too long we have sought to garner excessive profits in the name of those who create great works in the name of incentives, yet Immanuel Kant did not write Critique of Pure Reason because he felt he would enjoy the gains it produced for society. Karl Marx did not write Das Capital, and Adam Smith did not write The Wealth of Nations because they would retain exclusive reproduction rights for a period of 50 years.

Sean Tisdall