I think we need to refine the definitions to account for the realities of electronics and find some middle ground. Some of us write for money. It is bad enough that every seedy social science prof in the country can pilfer my stuff through their local copying store and that second hand book dealers can resell me without paying me a nickle. I cheerfully donate money to the organizations engaged in suing these crooks. But please keep in mind that there are professional writers.
Copyrights are more than protections of free speech, they are protection of an economic system.
We hacks who lie somewhere between writers of letters to the editor and John Updike, depend upon protection for our income. They sell it for a lower price than someone could steal it at the current price of xeroxing. As this discussion goes on, please don't be so infernally academic that you forget about the power of economics. Frankly, I like the copyright laws just like they are, and to blazes with electronic publishing until someone figures out a way to pay us. You better believe that when institutions pay us, they will figure out a way to protect us.