Copyright insanity

I'm sure people wonder from time to time, "what's Karl's problem with copyright?". My problem is that the whole notion of copyright is evolving to become so protectionist and restrictive, that we end up with shenanigans like this:

The Author's Guild claims text-to-speech software is illegal, because "...that's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law." The Guild also thinks used books are a kind of theft, and books shouldn't show up in an internet search unless the search engine pays.

The best reality check statement on this issue: "If a machine reading a book creates a derivative work, why not a person reading a book?"

via boingboing