An anonymous reader writes:
WIPO is currently engaged in negotiating a new treaty on digital IP rights, but they're having trouble agreeing.
The US along with others is pushing for reviving a 1962 treaty (never ratified) that would give the large cable distributors (like TBS, FX, Bravo, TCM, Discovery, Sci-fi, Spike, etc) ownership of even public domain content if they carry it.
From the article: "This right would be in addition to the rights and permissions (if any) associated with the copyright in the work, and would apply even to works that are in the public domain, or where the copyright owner was willing to freely distribute the work."
So, how about your cable provider getting IP rights over Linux because you used their infrastructure to download your distribution?