Why should a copyright holder have such power over when his or her words are used by another?
What is the big deal over copyright?
Is it really fair in light of our Freedom of Speech?
freedom of speech was intended to be on the personal front. the idea was that a person could not be put in jail for merely expressing an opinion. it was also ment so that ideas could be freeflowing. when you are talking about copyrighted material you still have the right in most cases to use it yourself, just not profit from it. copyright laws protect ideas, or a product. when you write a book copyright laws protect you from having someone grabbing a copy, taking it to the publisher and producing it and selling it as his own.
it is amazing that the whole freedom of speech idea is so hard for people to get. freedom of speech does not mean you can say whatever you want, whenever you want, to anyone you want. everything has practical limitations. try telling the president of the united states that you are going to kill him, you’re just using your freedom of speech right? wrong, you are threatening, which you can’t do. try lieing in a court of law under oath, freedom of speech? no, you do not have that freedom . try talking out of order in a court of law, you’ll be in jail before long. the thing is, this is not restricting your right to voice an opinion, this is maintaining order, it is taking threats seriously, it is protecting people from having their ideas stolen. slander, libel, purgury, terrorist threats, these are all limits on freedom of speech.