Dan Gillmor describes what Jack Valenti is really proposing in the domain of copyright reform:
The major media/entertainment companies believe that control of information -- absolute control over how it can be used -- belongs to the owner of the copyright. They insist, moreover, that copyrights should be able to last indefinitely.This is not a compromise, no matter what Valenti calls it. This is a radical agenda, one that overturns tradition and would ultimately wipe out the public domain, without which our culture would be vastly poorer.
[...]
Valenti can't explain how Hollywood's wish list will preserve traditional uses, nor why any entertainment company would ever allow copying of any sort if it could be prevented through technological means. He simply recited one of his constant mantras, that ``everything you can do legally today you'll be able to do tomorrow.'' It's just not so.
