Possession

possession (something that can be used) vs. property (something that can be sold). [1]

Definition

From the Wikipedia:

"In law, possession the control a person intentionally exercises toward a thing. In all cases, to possess something, a person must have an intention to possess it. A person may be in possession of some property (although possession does not always imply ownership). Like ownership, the possession of things is commonly regulated by states under property law." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_%28law%29)

Discussion

Christian Siefkes: Peer Production is based on Possession, not Property

Christian Siefkes:

"Peer production is based on commons and possession (not on property). Benkler talks about “commons-based peer production” to emphasize the important role of the commons (goods and resources without owners who can control how they can be used). Generally, commons such as free software and open knowledge play an important role as input or output (or both) of peer projects.

Where things are not commons, they generally matter as possession (something that can be used), not as property (something that can be sold). In current peer projects, resources such as computing power and Internet access are typically privately owned, but they are used and shared for reaching the goals of the projects, they aren’t employed for financial gain. And, as noted above, participation in peer projects is motivated by use value, not by exchange value — goods are produced to be used (as commons or possession), not be be sold (as property)." (http://www.keimform.de/2008/01/21/material-peer-production-part-0-traits-of-peer-production/)

=Relevance to Usage and Resource Allocation

Christian Siefkes:

"One issue where this becomes relevant is the question of _long-term vs. short-term usage._ When projects expect people to make contributions in order to get the things they want, there are cases where the length of usage should be taken into account. Otherwise, people who want to use something for a limited period of time would be put at a serious disadvantage, since they would have to contribute just as much as if they wanted to use it "forever." When the expected "lifespan" of a good exceeds the expected time of usage by any given person, it might thus be appropriate to tie the required contributions to the length of usage, sharing the overall effort between all who use it over time. For example, a project or local association organizing housing for its members might prefer to require contributions for living in a house or apartment for a certain amount of time (instead of for living there forever), thus spreading the effort necessary for building and maintaining houses among all the people who live there over time.

The difference between property and possession is also relevant for the problem of _resource allocation._ In an economy where everything is based on commons and possession instead of property, it would not make sense to treat natural resources as property--to rely on buying and selling to allocate them. In fact, it would not even be possible: if nothing apart from resources is sold, how should those who lack them be able to buy them?

The alternative is to treat resources like everything else: as commons and possession. Since specific resources are typically bound to the location where they occur, they might be _managed_ by the _local associations_ (cf. previous part) they are in, but they won't be _owned_ by anybody. Instead, they are _commons_ when they are not used; they become the _possession_ of some person or project using them for some purpose; and they revert to the _commons_ when they are no longer used (provided they haven't been used up).

Since resources are commons, and since any local association is unlikely to have enough of _all_ the resources its members need, it makes sense for the various local associations to _pool_ their resources. They can do so by using the shared allocation system of an existing _distribution pool_ (cf. previous part) to distribute the available resources of all participating local associations among all their inhabitants.

When resources are pooled, they can be allocated to those who want them in a similar way to other goods distributed through a d-pool. When there is enough of a resource available for all who want to use it, everybody can get what they want for free, which is essentially a _flat rate_ model. If there is more demand than can be satisfied, resources can be "auctioned off" in the same way as products: the resource will be assigned to the people or projects willing to contribute most weighted labor to the d-pool in order to get it _(preference weighting)._ If a project acquires resources that are not available for free (flat rate), it can add the weighted labor necessary to get them to the tasks the project members need to handle, so this additional labor will be distributed among them in the usual way.

Remember that resources are considered as _commons,_ not as the property of the local associations where they occur. They are just made available as additional goods to be distributed through a d-pool. If a resource is auctioned off at a high cost, the association of origin won't benefit in any special way; instead, all the other goods distributed through the same pool will become slightly cheaper. This follows from the fact that resources are treated just like other goods that are distributed through a d-pool: if a project successfully distributes one of its products through the pool, the _effort_ (in weighted labor) required to produce it will be recognized as a contribution to the pool. But natural resources are not produced, they just exist, so the production effort to be recognized is zero."