While browsing for a news story, I found this opinion blog from Techdirt.com and felt that, although it isn't a new issue, the topic of copyright laws and technology is an interesting one. The blog's author contends that copyright laws will soon be obsolete due to the extensive file-sharing capabilities the Internet offers. 

I felt the blog post had a good point: when consumers can fileshare at will, what difference will copyright laws make? However, he also stated that "the average consumer" hasn't felt the full effect of online file availability, but that copyrights will be obsolete within a year. Certainly nearly every "average consumer" must know something about file sharing. Even those that don't participate are aware of the fact that iTunes isn't the cheapest place to download music if you're ignoring copyright laws. In addition, corporations in the media and entertainment industry are constantly striving to limit file piracy. It appears that, though copyrights will continue to be violated at an increasingly fast pace, they're not going anywhere any time soon.