Copyright is a big topic. Changing too. James has things on SOPA and creative commons. Laura has a great summary, and Michael links to a story about piracy and discusses one reason why it happens. Many share this view by the way, the bigger issue is to try and solve the issue (it is what we call a wicked problem). But industry reacts and so wants to make the walls, the punishments, etc bigger, harder, harsher. It is a stick rather than carrot approach, and anyone who wants to change behaviour will tell you, carrots work better.