Amazon has up to date its buying phrases for Kindle e-books in the USA to make clear that clients are buying a license to the content material, not possession. The brand new assertion reads: “By inserting your order, you’re buying a license to the content material and comply with the Kindle Retailer Phrases of Use.” This replace is particular to U.S. clients; worldwide customers proceed to see the earlier wording, however the message is similar: You don’t personal it; we’re solely letting you utilize it.
Beginning February 26, 2025, Amazon will discontinue the “Obtain & Switch by way of USB” function for Kindle units. This implies customers can not obtain Kindle books on to their computer systems for guide switch, because the entry to bought content material will now rely totally on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure. This modification factors out a refined fact about possession and reinforces a easy reality: It isn’t yours if another person can take it away.
This isn’t simply an Amazon situation however applies to all content material and supplies in our present digital period. Your favourite songs and albums in your streaming app can’t be accessed with out an web connection. They restrict the variety of units you possibly can pay attention from, they usually insert adverts except you pay them a month-to-month payment. Gone are the times of data, tapes, and CDs having the liberty to pay attention nonetheless you need, resell, and even give it away to a buddy.
What does it imply to personal one thing? Possession is often understood because the act or state of possessing one thing. On this case, we clearly possess the content material, however it may be altered or taken away from us at any time. That isn’t true possession. Oxford states possession is outlined as “The unique proper to make use of, possess, and eliminate property”. So exclusivity is required in possession.
What about different intangible digital gadgets similar to cash or identification? You possess your title or deal with on social media or e mail. That’s you, it’s your on-line likeness, persona, and content material that you simply created. You can’t have two folks with the identical title or deal with, and that exclusivity is enforced by a password on the account, however that account will be locked, banned, or deleted at any time by the choices of Fb or X. What about that cash in your checking account? You possess it, and you’ve got authorized rights to it, however banks freeze accounts, and governments seize funds on a regular basis. That isn’t true possession.
So I ask once more: What does it imply to personal one thing? It’s not sufficient to own it; having exclusivity and even authorized rights shouldn’t be sufficient. To really personal one thing, you alone should be capable to implement that possession and exclusivity. Within the bodily world, enforcement largely comes right down to coercion and the risk or precise use of violence. The eviction discover from the sheriff’s division, the armed guards in entrance of a vault, the redrawing of borders after a warfare. Within the digital area, encryption serves this function and, on the similar time, removes the necessity for violence by making power ineffective. It creates possession that can’t be overridden by violence. No quantity of bodily power can break sturdy cryptography. A authorities can seize a server, and an organization can shut down an account, but when information is encrypted and the secret is non-public, the data stays inaccessible. The one approach to entry encrypted property is thru consent.
Encryption doesn’t simply shield digital possession; it modifications the very nature of energy. It removes violence from the equation. That’s why it’s so disruptive.
Digital signing in encrypted methods is the way you show possession and management within the digital world. PGP permits you to signal messages and information, proving they got here from you and haven’t been altered. Nostr, a decentralized social media protocol, works the identical means. Your posts and identification are tied to your non-public key, not an organization that may ban or delete you. Bitcoin exemplifies this precept. Controlling your non-public keys means solely you possibly can entry and handle your funds. Once you signal a Bitcoin transaction, solely you possibly can entry and transfer your cash. No financial institution can freeze it, no authorities can seize it with out your key. True possession is about having the ability to implement that possession.
The Bitcoin axiom “Not your keys, not your cash” involves thoughts. “Not your keys, not your cash” means if you happen to don’t management the non-public keys to your Bitcoin, you don’t personal it. Once you maintain Bitcoin on an alternate, the alternate holds the keys, not you. They will freeze your account, restrict withdrawals, and even lose your funds. Brokerage accounts and retirement accounts with Bitcoin ETFs will be frozen or seized the identical as any checking account. True possession means holding your keys as a result of solely then do you might have full management over your cash, identification, and property.
The shift from bodily to digital has made entry simpler however possession murky. Whether or not it’s books, music, identification, or cash, simply having possession is an phantasm of possession. Firms can revoke entry, governments can seize funds, and platforms can erase identities, however encryption modifications that. Possession turns into enforceable, not by legal guidelines, an organization, or an establishment, however by math. If you would like true digital possession, the rule is straightforward: management your keys, or another person is the true proprietor.
This can be a visitor publish by Will Jager. Opinions expressed are totally their very own and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
