The recently announced anti-piracy plans certainly will help those U.S. companies that lose huge amounts of money as mentioned. But I’m not sure it will do much good for the rest of us.

It is a fact that people do not want to pay for music, software and other things they can get free on the Internet. On one hand, the authors and creators behind those materials deserve payment for the use of their work. On the other hand, the free use of artwork, scientific results and other useful things seems to me to foster a kind of cultural democracy. When your income regulates what you can enjoy, the needy won’t have as much as those who are better off.

Continue »