Software code respects the quid (protection of property) without
yielding the quo (the public interest). Code now makes it possible to
decide in fine degrees of detail not only who can or cannot use a
certain digital text, but also how it can be used. It can prevent you
from listening to a piece of music for a second time, pasting a text
into another document, or sending an image to a friend. But it can
also prevent the public from getting ultimate access to a copyrighted
object forever. The "public domain" and all the pubic goods connected
to it have no part in the new encoded balance.
-- John Seely Brown and
Paul Duguid. The Social Life of Information. 2000.
p.249