Laws that Choke Creativity

I loved the idea of Creative Commons when I first heard about it, and hearing Lawrence Lessig cover three examples of outdated laws that led to him coming up with the idea was fascinating.  I had never heard of John Philip Sousa's negative feelings about phonographs, and certainly had no idea that trespassing laws used to cover airspace as well as land.  In fact, I've often wondered how you can "own" a part of a stream or river, since it's moving; I understand that you can have fishing rights on the banks, but to "own" it seems like a misnomer to me.

It's a shame, but money drives most things, so I don't see the music companies or the media in general giving up their grip on copyright law without a fight.  Even though it seems inevitable that they will lose in the end, they will make life as miserable as possible.

Living in India - "the credit card fraud capital of the world", as our bank repeatedly reminded us - following copyright laws was very hard.  Every form of media was pirated, no matter where you purchased it or how much you paid.  DVDs often suddenly switched to another language, or went to black and white, or just left entire scenes out.  We could get new releases (movies released in the U.S.), before they hit the big screen in the U.S.  Most expatriates used a Slingbox, which personally I think is against copyright, but I don't know if the courts have ever ruled on it.  A Slingbox hooks up to a friend's cable in the U.S., and then you can watch and record whatever you want abroad, off of their cable.  We used Apple TV, which, incidentally, is the only media outlet which will allow you to purchase and view anything when you have an Indian ISP.  Amazon and the major networks block you as soon as they recognize that you are in India.

So, I wish the entire world would go to Creative Commons and just end the debate.  The media needs to get with the program, and recognize that they will lose, in the end.