- you might call §512 the Magna Carta for Web 2.0.

I have another name for it. The “Missouri Compromise” of the information age. While the Missouri Compromise held off the fight over slavery for another 30 years, it pretty much pre-destined an even bigger one down the road.

While 512 has managed to hold off a fight about copyrights at the immediate point and time, it has pretty much predestined a nightmare in the future. First off, 2 people sharing 2 things is 4 cross shares, but 20 people sharing 20 things is 400 cross shares. So as the Internet grows cross sharing and compliance costs will grow exponentially instead of linerally. Also, eventually the copyright cartel plans to control content exposure not by withholding take-down notices, but via DRM. When the technology is ready, then the only option will be to take down all content no matter what – even if it is generated by independent users. All content must be in the system to ensure compliance because there no natural technology that can distinguish copyright content from non copyright content.

Since the government is beholden to the media, and the media is beholden to copyrights, it doesn’t take much to imagine that things will probably get pretty ugly for free speech rights when they start to circle the wagons with DRM.