Dan Bricklin has a good article on his blog describing the harm that copy protection does to future generations. If the DRM crowd has their way, the Rosetta stone might be illegal.

Intellectual Property

Following on the Sony rootkit fiasco, comes this gem from the FCC: consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement. Basically, the FCC is stating that you only have the right to run software if it is approved by the cops. Like Sony, the FCC, FBI and other big brothers feel that they have the right to control what you do with your computer. Not just after the fact if you violate a law, but before you do anything. There may be an argument for this sort of thing, if you were to consider software as a device and the internet were licensed. For example, the government has an interest in regulating the kind of vehicles that travel interstate highways. It regulates vehicles and licenses drivers. However, the net has no licensing requirements and software is more analogous to speech than a device. The FCC and especially Sony appear to be applying prior restraint on a form of expression, a form protected by the first amendment.

Intellectual Property