Whenever I speak with librarians about fair use or the Copyright Act more generally, I inevitably hear them express concerns that we run the risk of becoming a pay per use society, one in which content is available only for a fee, writes Rick Boucher. I am concerned that the bookmobiles we all grew up with, and their modern-day equivalents, will be replaced by a world in which access to information will depend on the ability to pay and, worse, a world in which a payment gets you only a license to view or listen to something, not to actually own it. But I know it is said by some technologists and economists that this is the way it should be, if only because it is the most efficient means of allocating something in a market economy. [Lessig Blog] [Cinema Minima]
Posted by Jason at August 16, 2004 10:34 PM