Congress has fired a shot in the struggle between content providers and content users. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken dead aim at content users when they took the shot.
The Register reports that a new Congressional Budget Office paper on
Copyright Issues in Digital Media has been released as a advisory document for Congress. But instead of working to balance the public interest with protection of commercial interests, it seems to have focused on keeping the markets profitable to ensure content providers will continue their creativity. In fact, it even goes so far as to support pricing that is set based on the particular uses of the content. Check out The Register's article for some great analysis.
And lest we turn radical as a result of perceived abuses by lawmakers, content providers and their legal teams, we must also acknowledge that we do depend on a reasonable legal protection of content. Without it, we could see some degree of dwindling in the quality and quantity of new books, movies, music, software, etc.
In the mobile computing world, the commercial software developers and content providers are generally our friends and allies, along with sellers such as PalmGear, PocketGear, Handango, Fictionwise, eReader, etc. If we want to see our mobile computing community grow and prosper, it means we also want to see the commercial side of things prosper.
Let's hope we can find a satisfying legal and social compromise that can stand the test of new technology, while meeting the needs of both consumer and producer.