Best synopsis of the actual problem that I've seen so far in print.

[blacklid]

The longer term solution would be to develop an appropriate social contract: conducting ourselves online under the same civilized behavioral norms that keep us from, say, stealing stuff from one another's homes even though we could probably get away with it. It's not really that hard, and it's worth figuring out before the privilege of free interaction is taken away from us - along with any expectation of privacy.

Only by strengthening people's ability to distinguish between sharing and stealing will we be able to build a society capable of surviving our networks.

-- Douglas Rushkoff, Will Your Internet Provider Be Spying on You?, CNN Opinion