In the latest reading, Lessig discusses the power balances, and imbalances between corporations, artists, and the law. Generally there is a pattern in that the more power one has, the more they are able to do what they want, and also restrict the rights of others. Though the RIAA can prohibit circumvention technologies and piracy that harms profit by the artist, they also have ways to prevent fair use, and sometimes giving a large corporation all the money and leaving the artist out of their entitlement completely.
Where Adobe certainly warrants good reasons for having their creative work not stolen, the way in which they execute limited fair use of their product severely limits our ability to learn. Similarly, there is a fine line between the benefits of education from both fair use and piracy, as well as the detriments of prohibiting that education while trying to protect the rights of a corporation or artist. As the movie we watched in class implied, however, it seems to break down to the money. If there wasn't so much profit in making a big fuss over piracy, circumvention technology, and the use of creative material warranted or not, would there be so much bickering?
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