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Amazingly, this corporate desire goes back more than a hundred years. Edison cylinders had a "shrink-wrap" license trying to control what people did with the recordings they bought: https://www.flickr.com/photos/59414209@N00/5072909557/

That was later outlawed with the "first-sale doctrine": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine

I would say that it seems like it's time for some new legislation that supports consumer freedom. But given the state of American politics, I can only hope that Europe will do some pioneering work on this.



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