22 Mar 2006
CATO Institute Releases Paper Criticizing DMCA

Gee, maybe the mainstream libertarian movement is finally getting a clue. As it's developed over the past forty years, these folks have been way too supportive of practically anything a big corporation does, following Ayn Rand's famous dictum that Big Business is America's Persecuted Minority. I've often mused that the only real economic policy difference between Libertarians and Republicans is that Republicans get the big dollars from the lobbyists. Otherwise, on economic policy, they've been virtually tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.

Perhaps they'll also come to understand that "capitalism" and "free market" are not necessarily synonyms, and we'll make some real political progress - with a real third party alternative to the statist status quo. But I'm not holding my breath.

The CATO institute has published a paper criticizing the DMCA entitled 'The Perverse Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.' From the article: 'The DMCA is anti-competitive. It gives copyright holders--and the technology companies that distribute their content--the legal power to create closed technology platforms and exclude competitors from interoperating with them. Worst of all, DRM technologies are clumsy and ineffective; they inconvenience legitimate users but do little to stop pirates.'

(link) [Slashdot]

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