Re:Why super-smart people may be drawn to a life of crime
by Mathnerd314 on Monday March 06, 2017 @05:51PM
(#13806823)
Right, your average American don't "know" a monopoly is bad. In general they won't "know" anything about the subject. But, from their grade school American history class, they probably have some vague recollection of the anti-trust laws passed in the early 1900's to break up the "Robber Barons" or "Titans of Industry", and the corresponding "even rich people aren't above the law" sentiment. So if you say "copyright monopoly" they won't dismiss the need for legislative reform out of hand. Whereas if you use terminology like "legalize piracy" they probably will.
A natural monopoly would be associated with a public utility; probably the various libraries. An electronic library might become a public utility, but so far Spotify, Netflix, etc. have had incomplete catalogs and there's not much support for the compulsory licensing scheme they'd need to make it work (which would be its own public service...)
A natural monopoly would be associated with a public utility; probably the various libraries. An electronic library might become a public utility, but so far Spotify, Netflix, etc. have had incomplete catalogs and there's not much support for the compulsory licensing scheme they'd need to make it work (which would be its own public service...)