I propose we stifle this kind of legislation once and for all. I have two ideas.<p>1) Criminal penalties for violating the inalienable rights of other humans: acceptable. Criminal penalties for infringing on legislated rights (i.e. patent, trademark and copyright)? Unacceptable; may incur civil penalties, but only if the rights holder raises the objection. Such a system requires thought, discussion and planning because the Little Guy needs to be able to afford suing for damages.<p>2) Compulsory licensing for <i>everything.</i> As it stands, if you compose a song and publish the lyrics and music, no one may record the song without your permission. Once it's been recorded and made publicly available, the rights holder is compelled to license the song for other to record. The law provides for the royalties to be collected on your behalf and paid to you. Do the same for broadcast rights and distribution rights.<p>The one thing that simply cannot happen is trying to turn every administrator of a data pipe into copyright cop. There's no way for them to know who owns rights to what and what's been licensed to whom and for what purposes.