Is copyright a good thing or is copyright just in the way? Ok,
I'm a copyright lawyer so you might be able to guess what
I'll say.
Thanks to changing and less-protective copyright laws and the
Internet, there is so much more content available than ever. But
it's tough for copyright creators to be in the middle of the
economic changes – and to make money.
The effect of the Internet on content owners really can't be
overstated. In Jaron Lanier's new book "Who Owns the
Future" he builds upon his earlier writings to suggest that
the Internet is fundamentally restructuring our social and economic
base. It's half of a great book, because after an insightful,
even brilliant, analysis of how the Internet is reshaping the media
and our economy, he proposes a kind of solution that is palpably
unworkable to restore the "middle class," namely a kind
of "central regulator" to monetize digital behavior. An
"A" for effort, though.
