Corporate America stifles creativity.

Copyright protection is necessary for inventors to invent and creators to create because they provide a monetary incentive to do so. But the Framers of the Constitution stressed that there should be copyright protection for "a limited time" only -- specifically 14 years, renewable for another 14 years, for a total of 28 years -- for good reason. They understood something about how inventors invent and artists create new work. That is, all creativity is built upon the past. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

Today, Congress and the courts do not express this viewpoint. Rather, they are expressing the views of the major corporate interests. Since that initial constitutional clause was written, Congress has sought to extend copyright protection to an obscene number of years -- life plus 70 years for individual authors and 95 years from publication for corporate authors.

Under the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act (also called the Mickey Mouse Act), Mickey Mouse, created in 1928, will not be released to the public domain until well into this century. In other words, Mickey's image is the property of Walt Disney Corporation. But the push by Disney to maintain its ownership of Mickey Mouse is ironic because Mickey was based on a Buster Keaton short film titled Steamboat Bill Jr.; a film that was part of the public domain.

But you knew that. But did you know that with the move to broadband, internet users are giving up their protected freedoms on a "common carrier" network and putting themselves under the whims of the corporate providers of broadband. Broadband does not have to follow the openness required of a "common carrier". They can begin to watch what is passing through their lines and steer it for their own corporate interests.