Replies

. “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery,”

The MPAA and RIAA have to be the only two organizations at the same level of stupidity as the national Republican Party.

Back in the early '80s, they sued Betamax maker Sony over the VCR, and invention that was conceptually similar to the quite legal personal audio tape decks already common(Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.).

When VCRs proliferated, the industry wanted to sell tapes directly to the public for $80 for an aging hit ("Jaws", "The Sting"). They were officially worried about rental shops. This was wrong in two ways. First, the rental shops wound up being a great way for the movie studios to sell thousands of copies of third tier movies (Dude, Where's My Car) and lowering the price allowed them to sell MILLIONS of copies of blockbusters directly to the public and still make money (E.T. was marked down to $20).

High quality audio cassettes and recording of LPs, CDs and radio broadcasts did not wind up costing the industry money, despite the industries protests. Not every low quality $5 VHS tape sold on a street corner cost the industry a sale of the $25 version, being the video equivalent of the little boy who drills a hole in the fence to watch the ball game "for free".

There is no plausible reason why audio CDs of 30 year old works (e.g. Aerosmith's Greatest Hits) are worth the $10+ that manufacturers still want for them.

Extending copyright laws towards the 100 year mark, refusal to sell the publishing rights to 60 year old LP/78 RPM recordings for a reasonable price while at the same time also refusing to issue same on CD or digital formats will drive copying further underground. It is a perversion of the purpose of copyright laws, which is to encourage the original content creator to produce through exclusive compensation for a limited period of time.

The only way to stop copying content via the Internet is by shutting down the Internet. This is a cat and mouse game the cat cannot win.