Why Both Sides Are Wrong In The Copyright Debate?
from the no-more-regulation-needed? dept
Declan McCullough latest column is a bit of a surprise. While he has been against all the silly legislation the entertainment industry has backed concerning copyrights, now he's coming out against the proposed bills protecting "fair uses" rights, as well - such as the proposed "compromise bill" from Senator Wyden. His argument, basically, is that regulation never helps anything, and if consumers don't like copy protected CDs, then they won't by them, and the music industry will be forced to change their practices via market pressures. In the long term, he may have a point. However, as the entertainment industry has been quoted claiming that we have no fair use rights - and in watching their actions over the past few years - you realize that it will take them quite a while before they would respond. In fact, they're almost more likely to respond in the wrong way. Just as they now blame poor sales on downloads instead of more fundamental problems with the music industry, they'll find some other way to explain away poor copy-protected CD sales. While I'm usually against the government getting involved in these types of issues as well, I don't see (at this point - not having seen the details) how a fair use labeling requirement is bad.
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