Z:gnu-www-ja-reevaluating-copyright--6c59e6-The most widely opposed provis/en

The most widely opposed provision of the White Paper is the system of collective responsibility, whereby a computer owner is required to monitor and control the activities of all users, on pain of being punished for actions in which he was not a participant but merely failed to actively prevent. Tim Sloan [8] pointed out that this gives copyright owners a privileged status not accorded to anyone else who might claim to be damaged by a computer user; for example, no one proposes to punish the computer owner if he fails actively to prevent a user from defaming someone. It is natural for a government to turn to collective responsibility for enforcing a law that many citizens do not believe in obeying. The more digital technology helps citizens share information, the more the government will need draconian methods to enforce copyright against ordinary citizens.