"People" might. Corporations, not so much. If you believe that corporations are "people" under the law then the case law currently says they have to act like sociopaths or they might have a lawsuit. This is exactly why oversight is needed.

They are getting over their digital fear, actually. There are about ready to allow access to their catalog on Spotify. Wish You Were Here is available on Spotify already and when it hits 1 mil streams the whole catalog gets released.

What I find funny is that the "strict constitutionalists" in our politics today have no problems with IP. People like Clarance Thomas talk about "original intent" but never have a problem with these matters. If there is one thing that has outstripped original intent of the constitution it's copyright. It wasn't put there for people to make money. It was put there to encourage people to be creative. Copyright in perpetuity does NOT encourage people to be creative.

Yes, I screwed up "it's".

1) Put in reforms that revert copyright back to a shield and curb it's use as a sword.

And one of the best ways to do that is...

2) Disallow corporations to own copyrights. Require that they be in the name of actual persons and make it so they can only be leased to a corporate entity. That way the corporation is beholden to SOMEONE.

and of course

3) Get rid of Micky Mouse copyright.

I *hate* the idea of "Intellectual Property" in general. If you want a governmental power that has overreached its constitutional intent you can't find a better example. However I don't think EVERY patent is low quality. We need *limited* patents and limited copyrights with curbs that make them difficult to use as offensive weapons. They need to be inventor and artist focused instead of corporation focused. And we need patent examiners that have the knowledge and the time to say that patent is B.S.

Of course we aren't going to get that in a corporate dominated government.

Who is paying him to say this?

I'm sorry.. the last 2 years especially have left me with nothing but cynicism. Congresscritters are ALL paid spokesman. Who is paying him to say this?

I don't care if I agree or not... every one of these idiots is a shill in one way or another and regardless of party.

You can't get decent parts at Best Buy anymore. I went in a couple of weeks ago for an SSD and they didn't even have any. Staples stocks more fans and power supplies. It's yet another store more interested in selling Verizon phone than actual computing hardware.

you do have a point. I did not read the Fine article and regretted this post later...

Interesting, but the fact is that without modern fertilizers we'd already be starving from lack of food (rather than idiocy as it is right now).

"Inorganic fertilizer use has also significantly supported global population growth — it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

So, yes, Virginia, we're overpopulated by natural standards. It's only science keeping us afloat. And that science does have consequences.

The "Social Security is stealing" argument.

Wonderful.

Have you noticed that people are still having sex
All the denouncement had absolutely no effect
Parents and counselors constantly scorn them
But people are still having sex
And nothing seems to stop them

Do you realise that people are still having sex
They've been told not to, perhaps they are perplexed
When you see them holding hands
They're making future plans
To engage in the activity
Do you understand me

People are still having sex
Lust keeps on lurking
Nothing makes them stop
This safe things not working
People are still having sex
It's been going on for quite a while
Perhaps it's quite fashionable
It hasn't gone out of style

It's a fact that people are still having sex
It's rather obvious it's just what one expects
The evidence is all around that everyone in town
Has had it at one time or other in thier life
At this very moment people are still having sex
In a downtown condo or street in the projects
Although you can't see them or hear their breathing sounds
Someone in this world is having sex right now

People are still having sex
People are still having sex

Professors Say Massive Open Online Courses Threaten Academic Freedom

threaten their monopoly on information... it's RIAA and MPAA whining of a different flavor.

David Lee Roth is confused.