Claiming the Moral High Ground in the Copyright Wars

Abstract

Of all the reasons given to strengthen copyright law, the one that seems strongest is the moral argument by musicians, authors, artists and other creators that the internet is taking away their livelihood. But from the perspective of the national interest, the current set of proposals, globally, to shift the responsibility for enforcing copyright to intermediaries are bad ideas. Harming the communications infrastructure is a bet against the future – and against those newly emerging creators who don’t follow the model of the past. In this chapter of an edited collection of works about disputes over copyright, we examine the nature of the moral claims by various actors within the copyright system.

Keywords: Copyright