The Tyranny of Copyright?
Robert S. Boynton,
New York Times,
Jan 26, 2004
This is a great observation: "The recording industry is a $12 billion a year business, compared with the telephone business, which is a more than $250 billion a year business. That is what economists call a 'revealed willingness to pay,' a clear preference for a technology that allows you to participate in work, socializing and interaction in general, over a technology that allows you to be a passive consumer of a packaged good." This item comes within the context of an article depicting (oh so fairly, mind you) a copyright regime that is out of control. Or let me put it another way: in order to protect the $12 billion industry, legislators are in the process of destroying the $250 billion industry. We must be free to communicate, using words and ideas sometimes created by others. That's what strong copyright protection destroys - our ability to speak meaningfully.
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