Looks like Mitt Romney is actually doing something useful.  I’ve long worried that copyright law would be used to control and shape not just creative expression, but public debate. Fox is attempting to do just that, with its claims that none of the candidates can use footage from the GOP debate that it broadcast. Romney doesn’t like it, and is fighting that, arguing that fair use rights prevents Fox from exercising full control over the footage. What’s good for Romney also happens to be good for you and me. These debates, as sad as they might be, are smack in the center of the ongoing public political conversation that the Constitution protects. No one should be able to control the content of that public conversation by asserting a private copyright claim.
