Many of us that read and participate on Slashdot, I assume, make our living based in part on the protections of patent and copyright. Though ideally I think both should be done away with, from a purely practical perspective, I recognize why doing so in the short term might prove more harm than good. But...

The DMCA injects an unhealthy dose of steroids into copyright law. Copyright has to be fine tuned to make sure it does less harm than good, and at present that balance is out of whack. It would not be a unique event for copyright to be adjusted to benefit society at large (the judicial establishment of fair use did just that), but it seems pretty unlikely lately.

That's just the point of the article. Copyright was not established primarily as an economic benefit. The temporary monopoly over creative efforts was established because it was thought to enhance life in the republic by encouraging creative efforts. The DMCA has the potential of doing just the opposite--and I would argue that it already has.