Legal Implications: Smith & Jenkins' Lectures

In all honesty I knew that there were many laws and rules for what could and could not be published, posted online, copyrighted, etc., but I never really realized just how strict these laws are and how much they affect the ability of people and companies to create different things and put ideas out there that are their own, but may be very similar to others' work or unable to expand on something, etc. IP owners have an enormous ammount of say into what can be used/copied/developed, etc., that it holds back others from being able to, or even wanting to, work on something for fear that they will be sued, shut down, etc. This fear to be creative has stifled many projects that might have otherwise been successful. 

It seems as though it is almost impossible to come up with something entirely one's own, because of all the complex technicalities in these laws and the fact that what something thinks is completely innovative, might be infriging on one aspect of another's work. It's almost as if, in trying to protect people's rights, they end up really having none at all in the end. Also, as both Smith and Jenkins explained, many of these laws are not "up-to-date," in that they were created before the use of computers and other technology became so important and widely used. This has affected so much of what we see on the web and elsewhere. Since technology is so important now, especially with social networks and the fact that everything is shared worldwide, copyright law and other legal issues go against this key factor of computers, the internet, and other technologies. Therefore, although it may not completely be stifling creativity, it does seem to make people hesitant in trying to be innovative and start something new, just because there are many complications and long processes involved in trying to share their ideas and obtain others'.