Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars: A New Book On The Copyright Struggle

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A new book, written by William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel at Google (previously a copyright counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary) provides some insight on the current copyright wars, which through examples listed in his book, is not the first and won't be the last of such wars.

Patry tries to make the point that copyright is very much a balancing act. Too little, and you discourage creation as there would be no incentive to produce new content. Too much, and you stifle innovation and annoy consumers. DRM is a prime example of too much copyright, so much that it drives consumers away towards piracy and other forms of distribution that are not inhibited by DRM. The copyright holders believe that the more control they have over their content, via DRM and other measures, the more profit will come. This, and Patry has historical examples to back up his point, is not true if it drives away the consumer. And as he says in the book, "Without consumers, copyrights and content have no economic value."

Right now, we're in a phase where too much copyright is being pushed due to the copyright holders's "digital panic". It's not the first time that copyright holders have had such a panic attack, they have done so whenever any new distribution method have come along, be it newspapers or TV or the Internet. But they are the ones that eventually benefit the most from these new and improved mass distribution mechanisms, but after they embrace change, as opposed to fighting it and labeling anyone that supports the change as the enemy.

More:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/09...opyright-wars/