[syntaxbush]

Applying this "strict reading" would that mean the majority of chrome extensions are violating copyright. They would not be allowed to modify the DOM to translate web pages, to add price history, check for coupons, etc. as they all modify the original creator's "program"?

[sneak]

Yup. Copyright and intellectual property are utterly absurd.

It was created whole cloth as a legal fiction to prop up an industry that the legislature thought was worth propping up.

If you think about it, if search engines didn’t exist, and you invented and marketed one today, you’d be sued into oblivion. Same goes for public lending libraries.