[shadowgovt]

As a result, one would assume price should crash to zero and everything would balance out because even though you're having nationwide impact, it fundamentally doesn't cost as much as making a car to make an app... So why should people pay as much for it?

Presently, it's mostly because laws sustain the author's ability to gatekeep the software, whether or not it's even running on capital they own.

One does wonder how long such laws will last, one way or the other, if their end result is a massive inequality of outcome.