Here is an excerpt of your link:
Application of the first-sale doctrine to digital copies of copyrighted works poses difficult policy questions. In today's world, copies of copyrighted works, music, movies, and software, are increasingly bought by downloading through the Internet. For example, can a lawful purchaser of a song in the AAC format from the iTunes Store be allowed, consistent with the first sale doctrine, to resell or distribute that copy to others? Digital copies of copyrighted works do not comfortably fit within the constraints of the first-sale doctrine. Unlike transactions where a tangible copy changes hands, a digital transfer results in a reproduction of the work through the electronic transmission of a new copy of the work to its recipient. In other words, transferor retains the source copy unless deleted from the hard disk manually or through some special technology. By sending a copy to the transferee, the transferor infringes both the reproduction and distribution rights, but the first-sale doctrine provides no defense to the infringement of the reproduction right. For example, this exact issue is playing out in the ongoing litigation against ReDigi, an online marketplace for pre-owned digital music.
The question is whether the first-sale doctrine should be retooled to reflect the realities of the digital age. Physical copies degrade over time, whereas digital information does not. Works in digital format can be reproduced without any flaws and can be disseminated worldwide without much difficulty. Thus, applying the first-sale doctrine to digital copies affect the market for the original to a greater degree than transfers of physical copies. The U.S. Copyright Office stated that "[t]he tangible nature of a copy is a defining element of the first-sale doctrine and critical to its rationale."[1]
However, in Europe, the European Court of Justice ruled on July 3, 2012, that it is indeed permissible to resell software licenses even if the digital good has been downloaded directly from the Internet, and that the first-sale doctrine applied whenever software was originally sold to a customer for an unlimited amount of time, as such sale involves a transfer of ownership, thus prohibiting any software maker from preventing the resale of their software by any of their legitimate owners.[2][3][4] The court requires that the previous owner must no longer be able to use the licensed software after the resale, but finds that the practical difficulties in enforcing this clause should not be an obstacle to authorizing resale, as they are also present for software which can be installed from physical supports, where the first-sale doctrine is in force.[5][6] The ruling applies to the European Union, but could indirectly find its way to North America; moreover the situation could entice publishers to offer platforms for a secondary market
That is a very gray area.
Now let me quote something you seem to not clarify on:
"We will know for sure what the 720 is soon enough. But till then I will continue to make my opinions about Online Required known. You of course have every right to disagree, but I would appreciate it if you would acknowledge that people have a right to express opinions about the ramifications of this rumor."
I don't disagree. In fact my exact words were this:
"I would wait and see the final details before believing it needs a constant connection just to play a game. That would be a huge risk and a big gamble for Microsoft to be going solo on that one. This is why people may be confusing always online required to needing a connection to register or simply some of the features work best with a connection."
I do not support the notion that a game console must require an online connection at all times. Is that clear enough for you? If however some functions work best with an online function I have no issues at all connecting my new system. In fact I already do on my other systems and my computer. Microsoft should know that online connections are not 100% stable or 100% guaranteed to always work. Therefore there must be some sort of a back-up plan. If not then they will have a major problem on their hands.
