It Takes a Nation of Lawyers to Hold Us Back

“When the Smithsonian Institution recently announced a deal with Showtime to create a joint venture called Smithsonian Networks, documentary filmmakers and free-speech advocates were outraged by the prospect of a single corporation having exclusive rights to a public trust (the Smithsonian is funded by 75% public money). But this is only the most recent development in the gradual erosion of fair use and the public domain in America.”