The way I like to think about it is that the current laws were written with a <i>balance</i> between the text of the law, and the knowledge of those writing them that they could not catch every single infringement, nor do they even necessarily want to.<p>When you enter a regime where every infringement <i>can</i> be caught, the balance of the laws are broken. Very badly, in fact. Over the centuries we have been allowed to delude ourselves into thinking the law actually says what it seems to say because it was utterly physically impossible to completely enforce them. Our generation is going to have to re-discover the idea that even a broken law isn't worth enforcing unless there's a compelling social reason to do it.<p>You can already see the movement forming, if you know where to look; the current manifestation is a small movement towards re-enshrining the idea that a violation of the law must be accompanied by "criminal intent". (Which, among other effects, is the end of "ignorance of the law is no excuse", which also has to go. That only applies to natural or moral law; ignorance of the illegality of murder is no excuse. Ignorance of the illegality of importing orchids damn well is an excuse!) But it is small and has a long way to go.<p>Copyright law was not meant to make it completely impossible to copy anything, ever; it was meant to prevent large-scale infringement on either a personal or business level. It was never really designed to go after every infringer for creating mix CDs of music they already own copies of, even though a strict reading of the law says that's illegal. But where's the social harm in that? (Bearing in mind I said they owned legal copies already.)<p>The laws <i>don't</i> say what they appear to say, there are hidden caveats based on the physical possibility of enforcement, the humans involved in the justice system, and the impossibility of turning 250% of the population to the task of law enforcement. Until we make these caveats explicit, the law will increasingly become the anti-lottery, winning you the right to a randomly destroyed life for no good reason, and you can't not buy a ticket.