Looks like a separate copyright likbez episode is also needed. 
Some things you’ve said while discussing the place of the copyright in the digital world reminded me of a phrase I heard once, and I feel the need to share with TPC community. 
The phrase was by Zakhar (“Zack”) May, Soviet/Russian/Ukrainian rock music performer (he was born in Kharkiv back when Ukraine was Soviet, emigrated to the USA during the fall of the USSR, and remained a noticeable figure in Russian rock music scene), an engineer by education, who put up one of the first web sites in Russian back when the Web was young. He was once asked in an interview why he put up all his music on his website to be downloaded for free, and whether he believed in copyright, paying for digital downloads and such. His answer was, as close as I can remember and translate: “You see, creating a copy of a file with a song requires basically no expenses. Charging money for it is thus a violation of the laws of conservation, which is much more problematic than any of the rights-copyrights stuff.”