19th century squatting & modern copyright

[Jonathan]

http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture ... sade.ars/2

Sooner or later, Congress will have to do for the copyright system what it did for property rights in the 19th century: change the law to bring it back into line with peoples' moral intuitions.

A interesting, well-thought out article.

[George]

Unfortunately, the article fails to mention the problems of squatting laws that remain long after America became exactly like Britain. My parents had a trespassing poacher invade their Ohio property often enough that the children were prohibited from going too far back. He kept putting up a tree stand and my father had to tear it down, because if he didn't, the trespasser could claim the land in court in spite of the fact that he was trespassing and discharging a firearm recklessly.

I still hate DRM, and think that the laws should forbid it, but the article makes me wonder what the consequences would be a hundred years from now.