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Slow Copyright Progress

An interesting, contrarian perspective from Lucas Gonze:

News stories about copyright often pop up in the technology press. The subtext is usually like: “here’s how deeply broken copyright is.”

Don’t believe the subtext. Copyright is not broken in any sense that matters.

Copyright is in the process of adapting to changes in information technology. The process of adapting will take a longish time. The process started in the 1980s, which led to passage of landmark legislation such as the DMCA in the 1990s. In the years 2000-2010 the DMCA safe harbors were tested and defined in detail, and internet sites went from flat defiance of the law to grudging compliance. That’s 25 years of progress. I imagine 25 more will complete the job.

The notion is also applicable to other domains that typically frustrate technologists. I’m looking at you healthcare, even though you can make a good argument that health payment is broken in many senses that matter.

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