Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed
to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing
press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer
networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.
The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for
draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while
suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to
serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright--to promote progress,
for the benefit of the public--then we must make changes in the other
direction.