This paper investigates the current turbulent state of copyright in the digital age, and explores the viability of alternative compensation systems. The paper critically appraises the increased recourse to digital rights management (DRM) technologies, which are designed to restrict access to and usage of digital content. Considerable technical challenges associated with DRM systems have necessitated increasingly aggressive recourse to the law. A number of controversial aspects of copyright enforcement are discussed and contrasted with those arising from alternative levy-based compensation systems. This paper undertakes consideration of alternative models for managing the copyright bargain in the digital era.
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