[FM Discuss] wikimania presentation

[Edward Cherlin]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 2:43 PM, Andy Oram<andyo at oreilly.com> wrote:
> Adam, Ed, and I are all pretty close on ideas, and I'm sure Adam will find a way to fit in the important ideas in the few minutes he'll be given.
>
> I'll just return to one point: whether the initial triad (author, publisher) should include "copyright" or something more general. I'd plead one more time for something more general, such as "distribution model." Reasons:

Public. Users, _Other_ authors and publishers.

> * Thousands of cranky open source advocates complain about copyright on blogs and other forums every day. I think the arguments are known, and your audience probably doesn't need much persuasion.
>
> * The wider distribution model really IS interesting, and copyright is woven into it. Right now we're struggling at O'Reilly with how to take books out of print when we don't sell enough of them to make a reprint worthwhile. It's hard to take a book out of print! Just the "reversion of rights" to the author is a big headache that everybody strives to ignore as much as possible.

I can attest to that from the author's side. Pantheon mucked up the
process with a book I helped on, and had to become very, very
cooperative due to the resulting legal liability for breach of
contract as we scrambled to republish.

> It's the distribution model (along with copyright) that keeps us from letting a good Samaritan do a translation of a book, as FLOSS Manuals does all the time. And look at the region codes for DVDs.

[sigh] and the dud encryption, which deters only honest citizens, not "pirates".

> * Working at a publisher, I feel a little more sympathy for the copyright model.

I have plenty of sympathy for the original US Constitutional copyright
model, which speaks of "limited times", and was first implemented at
14 years. It's the increasing concern for publishers and dismissal of
public interests that gets me.

Free Mickey!

> It has adapted over time. Recently it's shot off trajectory into outer space with the Sonny Bono law, DRM, and RIAA lawsuits. For most of its history it was more of a good thing than a bad thing, I think. A doctrine supported (if I remember right) by Voltaire, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain can't be all bad.

Twain favored perpetual copyright, and said, "When there is a
copyright law to be made, the idiots gather."

> Andy
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-- 
Edward Mokurai Cherlin
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name, and
Children are
my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://earthtreasury.org/