Section 10.7. What About That Media Server?

10.7. What About That Media Server?

Copyright in its historical form benefits open source developers. Along with the general public, they benefit from the incentive to creativity and the support copyright gives to open source distribution models. Copyright as special-interest law, however, hurts open source development, because the special interests are those of closed markets and closed content. DRM can't stop piracy, but it can prevent anyone from Betamaxing another industry, commercializing disruptive technology development without content-industry sanction. Where the entertainment industry can't stop infringement, it attacks openness instead, and the "honest person" loses.

Whether you want to build a media server or an embedded network device, you'll likely run across the snares of copyright law. It's time to peel back the layers of copyright protectionism and return copyright to its original purpose: "to promote the progress of science and useful arts."