Free Trade Zone - The same appeals court that killed off Napster (where are you now, Shawn Fanning?) has issued an opinion blessing the latest generation of peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Read the court's decision here and catch discussion on the WaPo's Filter. Next stop? Either SCOTUS or, more likely, the U.S. Congress, where campaign contributions have greased the skids for quick passage of new, expansive copyright protections.

Whatever your views of widespread content sharing, it is important to realize that the whole owner-user paradigm is starting to shift in ways not seen since the cassette tape first made home reproduction feasible. Rob Pegoraro recently devoted a couple of columns to the consumer confusion in this new era. Forget about "you bought it, you own it." Purchasers of online digital music and video have few of the rights they are used to with regular CDs and DVDs. For example, music bought from Apple's iTunes cannot be played anywhere, anytime, but rather only on certain computers or on an authorized iPod (if you have one). More importantly, these limited rights can be modified or even revoked at any time by the licensor.

I wonder how long before everything I "own" checks in first with some "Big Brother" central server to see if I am still an authorized user?