Jinn of Quality and Risk

Since 1960 the term of US copyrights — originally 14 years — has been extended 11 times, most recently from 75 to 95 years, and applied retroactively. The movie and record industry have gone to court again and again to assault ever improved and cheaper electronic devices and transmission technologies.

But wait! There's more. Today's iPod can store 10GB, i.e. more than 2000 songs. Technological progress means that within one decade we will have the ability to store and carry 10 TB in similar Personal Appliances (which will help unleash a rebirth of nomad culture, but that's a topic for another day). That's 2 million songs. More than 10000 DVDs. Is this what they hope to prevent? Within two decades, a Personal Appliance is likely to have sufficient storage for all books and movies in existence. And you'll be able to copy a movie in less than one second.

So? Digital Copy Protection is doomed and it's a magnificent business opportunity says Marc Andreesen, of Netscape fame.

"When Elephants Dance" says Revert the term of copyright to 14 years, immediately and retroactively to all existing works. 

[paraphrasing some /. comments] That's like asking Faraday, Ampere, Maxwell, Tesla, and others why they were bothering with obscure facets of electricity 100-200 years ago. Sure, it was neat watching giant lightning bolts jump across two electrodes, but what real purpose did it serve?

You won't find it too difficult to answer today, as you power up your computer to write a report, analyse financial markets with a spreadsheet, download and decode your email, and admire the latest NASA gallery of images on your monitor. Meanwhile, you've loaded a CD into the player, so a laser reads the music which the amplifier feeds to your loudspeakers. Et caetera.