clipped from copyriot.se

MRM/metaphoric mode: Defining the network. Here is one very short history of copyright, roughly periodized as three layers of design: Between 1800 and 1950, roughly speaking, copying and use was two physically separated functions. Printing presses were relatively few, and was not needed in order to read the books or perform the scores which were printed. After the world wars, enforcement became more complicated as the means of reproduction entered the private homes. New machines, like the tape recorder, integrated both copying and use in one device. But still, these were two separate functions: You could listen to a tape without producing a new copy of it. Not so with the digital. To use digital information always means to copy it.