[jahewson]

Indeed. International copyright law needs revising - but I don't think we'll all be agreeing on anything soon, especially after the whole SOPA debacle.

If you run a dubious website, your only option is to block all countries other than your own, and provide a notice to that effect.

Is it silly? I dont know. It's hard to argue that you have the right to interact with a country's inhabitants but that the country cannot govern those interactions. Though the governing needs to be fair...

[TruthElixirX]

Where does the government derive authority to govern interactions where only half take place inside their borders?

[jahewson]

Easy: half of it took place within their borders. When you interact with other countries you do so on their terms, because they are sovereign.

Of course, if a crime is only half-committed in one country, then it is also only half-committed in the other country (presuming it is a crime in both). So either of the countries must be free to prosecute.