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CATO Institute Releases Paper Criticizing DMCA

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the keep-saying-it-and-people-might-start-listening dept.

flanksteak writes "The CATO institute has published a paper criticizing the DMCA entitled 'The Perverse Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.' From the article: 'The DMCA is anti-competitive. It gives copyright holders--and the technology companies that distribute their content--the legal power to create closed technology platforms and exclude competitors from interoperating with them. Worst of all, DRM technologies are clumsy and ineffective; they inconvenience legitimate users but do little to stop pirates.'" A report worth taking a look at that puts into words what most of us know already.

6 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Re:hehe by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 5, Informative

    The CATO institute is a libertarian think tank. Libertarianism falls into the left wing of the traditional classification of politial thought in some ways and right wing in others.

  2. Re:All aboard. by stewie's+deuce · · Score: 4, Informative

    Its http://www.cato.org/about/about.html actually more of a libertarian group. And libertarians favor less goverment control (more so than republicans.)

  3. Re:CATO? by centie · · Score: 5, Informative
    Well, according to http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42525-20 05Feb21?language=printer
    Nowadays, Cato alumni are everywhere in the Bush administration and in groups advancing the president's Social Security initiative. Former Cato analyst Andrew G. Biggs is an associate commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The director of the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, Derrick A. Max, previously worked for Abdnor (when she was at Cato) and for Weaver (when she was at the American Enterprise Institute)...
    ..and theres several more. So I'd think this is at least likely to be noticed by politicians and the media, if they take any notice or not is a different matter though..
  4. "Left versus right." by Captain+Scurvy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cato is to the right. Cato promotes free market (i.e., classical) liberalism. Main stream conservatism, otherwise known as neoconservatism, is a mish-mash of collectivism with some vague lip-service to (classical) liberalism thrown in. Have a look at some of the writings by F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, et al. These are your right-wingers. Compare these writings to the writings of Irving Kristol, who started the neoconservative movement. They are ideologically incompatible.

  5. Re:hehe by MyNymWasTaken · · Score: 4, Informative
    Libertarianism falls into the left wing [...] in some ways and right wing in others.

    Or better put, it's completely tangential to both. Left (Liberal) vs. right (Conservative) isn't useful, much less accurate, when talking about the border case Libertarian & Statist philosophies. More appropriate is a 4-point diamond with Libertarian & Statist opposite of each other and perpendicular to Liberal & Conservative; with Centrists in the middle.

    Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz.

    Quiz & explanation (PDF file)

    Libertarians support a great deal of liberty and freedom of choice in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity.

    Left-Liberals generally embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but support central decision-making in economics. They want the government to help the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for what they might describe as "economic equality."

    Right-Conservatives favor freedom of choice on economic issues, but want official standards in personal matters. They tend to support the free market, but frequently want the government to defend the community from what they see as threats to morality or to the traditional family structure.

    Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize what they commonly describe as "practical solutions" to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on political issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

    Statists want government to have a great deal of control over individuals and society. They support centralized planning, and often doubt whether liberty and freedom of choice are practical options. At the very bottom of the chart, left-authoritarians are usually called socialists, while right-authoritarians are generally called fascists.
  6. Re:All aboard. by takeya · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Cato people really are bonafide libertarians actually.

    Anti-government, pro-consensual society.
    As economists, they dislike the root causes for inflation, and the fact that the fed has one private bank print all our money.

    Conservatives tend to love it when the government controls things like money and marriage and drugs.