Is Technology On The Verge Of Killing Copyright Dead?  

Posted by: shilpz in , ,

While I have significant problems with copyright law, and believe that it's been stretched and twisted to a breaking point, even I find it surprising to see a researchers' prediction that technology will basically make copyright completely obsolete by some time next year. While the timeline may be a bit accelerated, the points raised are quite interesting. Basically, the researchers note a few different factors that are contributing -- from the rapid rise in social communications online to increasingly sophisticated file sharing systems to note that it won't be long at all until basically everyone will be able to easily and secretly share whatever content they want, with little chance of big copyright holders figuring it out. Obviously, some are already taking part in such things, but it hasn't reached the average consumer... yet.

Of course, this won't really represent the end of copyright, per se, but it will be a turning point. The old guard will continue to whine and scream about how "something must be done," but I'd bet that an increasing number of smarter more understanding content creators will finally begin to regularly embrace the opportunities this creates. As an increasing number of content creators begin to recognize that they can do quite well (in fact, better than before) without relying on the crutch of copyright, the entire purpose for copyright will begin to lose meaning and it will start to fade away. Alternatives may pop up and even prosper -- but traditional copyright will finally have to adjust to match with the times, rather than trying to adjust the times to match with the past.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 and is filed under , , . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

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