Digital transmissions of works over networks similarly entail temporary copying. The work is reproduced in the RAM of the sending computer before it is broken into packets of binary information and transmitted on the network. All of these reproductions generally are made automatically, and transparently to the user, and many persist only for as long as the activity takes place. Unlike broadcasting, though, digital networks allow each recipient on the network to engage in further dissemination of the work, which can cause the work to spread at a geometric rate of increase. This, combined with the ease of reproducing works, means that a single digital copy of a work can be multiplied many thousands of times around the world within a few hours.
Digital storage is dense, and it gets denser with each passing year.
Ever increasing quantities of material can be stored in a single medium. Compact discs, which can store over 600 megabytes of data, are used by commercial pirates for storing entire libraries of computer programs with an aggregate retail value in the thousands of dollars. New Forms of Exploitation Some of the most difficult challenges posed by new technology are those that enable new means of exploiting copyrighted works. They are not, however, exclusively challenges of public policy. New forms of exploitation have periodically unsettled preexisting business arrangements.