The doctrines of Fair Use and First Sale are the primary rules by which the ordinary citizen retains any real rights under copyright law and have preserved a balance of power between the copyright holder and ordinary citizens. These two rights appear to be under siege these days, even though they are codified in US law. Is the use of the DMCA by copyright holders to enforce greater and greater restrictions on the use of their copyrighted materials the source of this attack, or was the balance between copyright holder and citizen shifting for non-technological reasons even before the DMCA was enacted in 1998? Is there any sign that Congress or the Judiciary recognize this conflict and will take any action to preserve this balance?
Founders and Boards of Directors do not *own* corporations (at least not publicly traded ones), they just run them. The *stockholders* own corporations.
Slashdot Mirror
The doctrines of Fair Use and First Sale are the primary rules by which the ordinary citizen retains any real rights under copyright law and have preserved a balance of power between the copyright holder and ordinary citizens. These two rights appear to be under siege these days, even though they are codified in US law. Is the use of the DMCA by copyright holders to enforce greater and greater restrictions on the use of their copyrighted materials the source of this attack, or was the balance between copyright holder and citizen shifting for non-technological reasons even before the DMCA was enacted in 1998? Is there any sign that Congress or the Judiciary recognize this conflict and will take any action to preserve this balance?
Founders and Boards of Directors do not *own* corporations (at least not publicly traded ones), they just run them. The *stockholders* own corporations.