Let's think about something for second: The MPAA was originally started way back when in response to threats from Washington about wanting to regulate motion pi

Let's think about something for second: The MPAA was originally started way back when in response to threats from Washington about wanting to regulate motion picture content. The intent of the MPAA film ratings system is to be self-policing on the industry the group lobbies for. Obviously time and modernity has seen their raison d'être evolve into something even more self-interested and defensive than for visible public benefit, but why can't Google, Wikipedia et al do something similar? I'm thinking of like campaigns designed to educate people about not just CC, GPL, but all kinds of copyright, attribution norms, and what not. And yeah, Google and the rest should probably include some stuff that is just obviously flagrant piracy in things like Panda updates, filtering mechanisms, etc without being asked. (gasp, horror of horrors, I know) They should NEVER be forced to, but they should be proactive about it, show that they are, and like the MPAA did once upon a time show Washington, Hollywood, and the rights holders they can police themselves fine without Government intervention. Smith can go away tomorrow. The IP lobby is not. These people are embedded into the U.S. DOJ and elsewhere. It's not going to stop. *edits for punctuation, line breaks