The Copyright Paradox

This article, by Jonathan Band, is about copyright laws, and how they seem to be targeting beneficial organizations rather than individuals. It's easy for individuals to perform copyright infringement (like burning CDs and downloading music online), but libraries and colleges are the ones getting in trouble for it. Legislation (through the DMCA and the UCITA) can help prevent Internet piracy, but it's also preventing libraries and educational organizations from distributing copyrighted material fairly. It's ironic how individual copyright infringers, who mean harm, are able to get away with copyright infringement, while libraries (etc.), who mean no harm, are prevented from distributing useful information, which, under Section 108 of the Copyright Act, they are allowed to do. There definitely needs to be something done about copyright infringement, but legislation seems to be going about it the wrong way. Shrink-wrap and click-on licenses help, but the freedom of the Internet causes people to be able to put anything and everything on the Internet, and once some thing's on the Internet, there's no stopping it. The only solution that seems to come to mind is the dreaded government take-over of what's allowed to be on the Internet, but this would be against our First and Fourth amendment rights. This situation is indeed a paradox, and there doesn't appear to be a tangible solution. Perhaps just awareness and consideration of others could help solve the problem. There definitely needs to be a large effort on the consumer's part if there's going to be any solution to this problem.