Trends in Copyright Infringement: A Review of Two Predictive Articles Abstract: In 1995, Lance Rose and Esther Dyson wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing polarized opinions about the future of Copyright law and copyright infringement. This essay examines those articles, analyzes the accuracy of each article as defined by current trends years later. Over the past decade, the social vision of the creative society has changed significantly due to advances in computer technology and the Internet. In 1995, aware of the beginning of this change, two authors wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing diametrically opposed opinions on how this technological change would take shape and how it would affect copyright law. In the article "The Emperor's Clothes Still Fits" Lance Rose hypothesized that the criminal nature of copyright infringement would prevent it from developing into a socially acceptable practice. Therefore, he wrote, we would not need to revise copyright law to prevent copyright infringement. In another article, entitled "Intellectual Value", Esther Dyson presented a completely different view of the copyright issue. He based many of his arguments on the belief that traditional copyright infringement would proliferate in the years that followed, prompting a radical overhaul of American intellectual property ideas and laws. What has happened since then? Who was right? This article analyzes the situation then and now, with the understanding that these trends are still in the process of transformation. As software and hardware innovations make it easier to create, copy, alter, and disseminate original digital content, this discussion will become even more critical. While Rose advocated for better policing practices and better copyright legislation, Dyson proposed that de facto legalization of content duplication would override copyright law, resulting in a service-based economy with few copyright laws. While this economic and legal evolution will continue for years to come, it is this author's opinion that Dyson's pattern of change seems much more likely based on the events and trends of the past six years. Much of Rose's argument for maintaining current copyright laws stems from the mistaken belief that copyright infringement will remain a clandestine practice. In his article, Rose states that "net users who are not at all familiar with the criminal world [of file sharing] will never hear of such systems before they are broken up" [1]. While file sharing may not have been a major issue in 1995, the word "underworld" does not accurately describe today's thriving file sharing situation..