The recording industry doesn't get it. The motion picture industry is starting to grumble. Publishing nowadays means just putting up a website - the ability and the right to copy are lines that are becoming increasingly blurred, and the copyright law itself is showing signs of age.

From an article on fool.com: "Copyright is a legal bargain made between users and authors (or more often publishers) of information, from which both theoretically benefit. Three hundred years ago when copyright laws were first passed, the height of information technology was printing books. Since most individuals didn't own their own printing press, telling people not to create copies of books was like telling them not to fly. It was something they didn't have the practical ability to do anyway, so they weren't really giving anything up."

At that time, copyright was clearly a good deal for most people. Today, however, copying is something computers are built to do - it's one of their primary functions. Ever since software companies stopped selling "copies" of their programs and started selling "licenses of use", you knew something was very wrong.

Charging people for copies they can easily make for free is no longer good business. More restrictive laws won't be the solution, either. Record labels, movie studios and the like have to either dramatically change their purpose or risk becoming extinct in the coming decade. We're already seeing their ensuing panic with price-fixing lawsuits and other legal hassles (i.e. Napster), but all the lawsuits in the world won't won't keep a manufacturer of buggy whips in business once the automobile has been invented. Let's only hope their destruction doesn't wreak too much havoc.