America’s copyright laws have ceased to perform their original, beneficial role: protecting artists’ creations while allowing them to build on previous creative works. In fact, our system now criminalizes those very actions. For many, new technologies have made it irresistible to flout these unreasonable and ultimately untenable laws. Criminalizing our children and our artists is exactly what our society should not do, and we can end this conflict by embracing a new kind of hybrid economy. This new “read-write culture” would allow users to create art as readily as they consume it, while simultaneously ensuring that creators get the support-artistic, commercial and ethical-that they need to succeed.