are copyrights dangerous to our culture?

My nine month old son Gunnar was fussy the other night. I logged onto YouTube and began clicking on Sesame Street videos from 20 years ago. He loved them. I did too!

A flood of memories came back to me from my childhood and I began to wonder about who owns these original videos. I feel like they are part of my childhood. They are part of my cultural history. I wonder how Sesame Street will respond to this copying of their content and posting to YouTube.

This got me thinking.

For the past 100 years our culture has been played out through the media. We have recorded our modern history and culture through film, television, music, and the internet. Most of this media is currently in the hands of copyright holders that have control over the content. If they prevent the rest of us from making copies we increase the potential of losing this information, entertainment, and history.