It looks like he's arguing that ideas, art, and smells should be freely shared.

He says that data moves like smells. The only thing is, there are laws that are meant to protect you from having your medical records smelled by arbitrary folks who shouldn't / snoops with no right to do it.

I do not expect to have my medical records performed in a public setting by third parties, and I would not accept any amount as compensation in the form of royalties if they did. Those people should go to jail!

I have no argument with Paul Graham's position on smells and data. There's a difference between a thing that is sold and published, and a thing that is shared under confidence. That is the whole idea of HIPAA and other data privacy laws.

I am on the fence about copyright in general. That is not what's at issue here.