"the publishing industry is no longer necessary to spread information and entertainment." What's your real problem here? Are you smart but dishonest? Or are yo

"the publishing industry is no longer necessary to spread information and entertainment." What's your real problem here? Are you smart but dishonest? Or are you just a complete idiot? Because there's no way an informed person of good will could say something as obviously wrong as that. Seriously, publishers do a hell of a lot more than just "spread" information an entertainment. They actually produce the goddamn stuff. Moreover, they do so by putting billions (with a b) at risk. And thank goodness for that, since producing top-flight media remains an insanely difficult, expensive, and risky thing to do. And that's the reason copyright exists: to ensure when some of the bets these publishers place do turn into giant booming successes, they can actually recover enough of their investment to remain profitably engaged in the production business. An an institution, copyright has problems galore, but as Churchill said of democracy "is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."