ABSTRACT
Over the last 10 years we have realized the following:
We now possess an amazing capacity to negotiate digital content through networked computers—any person of any age can do it globally at little cost.
Copyright law is being fiercely defended as copyright owners fear cyber anarchists or digital libertarians will loot their property—the owners will pursue a strategy that a group of Harvard Law professors have labeled as a quest for “total control.”
Social and technological innovation is being threatened by focusing solely on the exclusive rights of the copyright owners.
A significant amount of copyright material lies inactive with little hope of use because many perceive it is too difficult or expensive to negotiate access to it.
Government and public institutions hold vast quantities of copyright material that is owned through the Crown on behalf of their citizens, which could be more effectively “licensed out” through open content user protocols to the benefit of all.
