Hardware copyright While the music industry (and all publishers) are free to enforce their copyrights to whatever degree they choose, they should not be able to outlaw sharing. But that's exactly what they're trying to do through a series of hardware and software initiatives. Microsoft is also supportive of this, since banning sharing also bans open-source development, something the software monopoly would clearly like eliminated. And not only are publishers trying to ban sharing, they're trying to do it on the hardware and software providers' dime, essentially asking for a huge government subsidy to protect their business model.

While publishers are free to enforce existing copyright law (flawed as it is), they have no right to outlaw sharing by those who want to do it, nor should they be subsidized by the government. What I would like to see in any electronic copyright related legislation is the mandate to allow fair use and the ability to freely share if that's what copyright owners want. And no subsidies or handouts. Fighting piracy has always, is now, and should forever be, part of the cost of doing business if you're a publisher.