[JohnFen]

> What non-monetary risks of distribution does copyright hedge against?

Copyright allows the copyright holder to decide what uses their work can be put to. The non-monetary risks are that the work will be used for a purpose the creator strongly objects to.

> This would seem to be the case regardless of the state of copyright protection since people gonna do what people gonna do.

Not true. Copyright provides for the possibility of legal repercussions when "people gonna do what people gonna do". Even for ordinary people.

[xp84]

> Copyright allows the copyright holder to decide what uses their work can be put to.

No. It allows the copyright holder to monopolize the copying and public performance of the work. That’s it.

It’s not a copyright violation for me to take your copyrighted painting and draw on it with crayons or hang it on a wall labeled “World’s Worst Painters.” As long as the copy was sanctioned by you I can put it to any use I want as far as copyright law cares. (One popular use now is having a computer compute facts about its word patterns)

[JohnFen]

> It allows the copyright holder to monopolize the copying and public performance of the work. That’s it.

Yes, we aren't disagreeing here.

> It’s not a copyright violation for me to take your copyrighted painting and draw on it with crayons or hang it on a wall labeled “World’s Worst Painters.

Exactly correct. I wasn't talking about purely private use. Copyright is about distribution of the results. If you do something with a work and never distribute the results, copyright doesn't enter into it (ignoring the complications of the absurd anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA, anyway).