Today, thanks to the Internet, people can organize by the hundreds of thousands - even in the millions - at a cost so low it was unthinkable only two decades. This is fantastic for volunteer efforts, and it has already begun to reshape the world we live, work and play in. But unfortunately, many legislators still seem to regard the Internet as a toy world where laws and rights don’t apply.

We see collaboration on a scale never seen before. A free volunteer encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has out...