I think those are all good points, although the way copyright law works with this stuff (at least in the U.S.) is a tad more nuanced. But your underlying statements stand. Tangential example of the technology change thing. We have gobs of pictures and videos of my daughter from over the years. What's the best way to back them up? Obviously off-site is key, for one, so that we don't lose everything should e.g. a fire happen. But changing formats and what-not has been a concern. Admittedly, image encoding has remained pretty stable over the years. My original plan was to use M-DISC blu-rays, and put them in my safe deposit box. But I'd have to (1) trust the maker's claims about their longevity, and (2) put the portable burner I'd have to buy in there with them and hope that they're still usable down the road. My current plan is to use Amazon Glacier and just put everything in an encrypted file container. Some of the same risks are involved, but I'm hoping they're lessened that way.