I understand your aggravation.
What we have here is a two-fold problem.
1. Once you publish something, everyone has access to it. In the old days, someone would have to go to a library, check out your book, and take it to a professional publishing house or photo studio to copy your picture. Today they just go "click."
2. Copyright is a limited-time monopoly provided by the government. It's original purpose was to ensure that people don't hoard their artistic talents and sell them only to rich collectors. In return for the artist putting their work out into the public view, the artist is given a limited monopoly, after which the work goes into the public domain.
Since the 1930's or so, large companies have been lobbying Congress to push, twist and deform the "limited" part of limited monopoly until it has no meaning. Now that part 2 has been made meaningless, and part 1 has made ignoring copyrights effortless, artists have a problem.
So artists have two options. 1. Lobby Congress to make copyrights mean something again. People will be more willing to wait for something to go into the public domain if it's not 100 years from now. Or 2 figure out another way to make money off of your work.
I disagree with you on your points. I copyright my material so that others may not profit from it. For example, recently a national Sports Magazine ran a picture of mine that I had originally provided to a college. The rights forwarded to the college specifically prohibited that kind of use. As a result, I was able to obtain my usage fee for the magazine's use of the photo. Without formally copyrighting my materials, I would have been SOL.
Use on myspace irritates me, but I know the kids dont know any better. I usually send them a note explaining why I dont want them "stealing" the photos. In most of those cases I simply extend a right to them for use on myspace.
Copyrights are important for those "artists" out here that are trying to make a living. I dont spend my life chasing my work--I'd rather be out shooting. But, when I see it being used without the proper permissions, the formal paper from the government gives me significant protection. Without that step (the formal registration) I would only be able to stir up the pot and hope to get paid.