Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Google Book-Scanning Pact to Give Libraries a Say in Price - NYTimes.com
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 20:18:25 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "W. Craig Trader" <craig () trader name> Date: May 21, 2009 6:21:00 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: "Brett Glass" <brett () lariat net>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Google Book-Scanning Pact to Give Libraries a Say in Price - NYTimes.com
Brett ... I'm astounded! I'm read dozens of posts from you, complaining about the big-badtelecommunications monopolies, and how the government needs to force those
monopolies to provide you with service at a 'fair' price. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, you want the government to enforce your monopoly (as an author) and not make any changes. Actually, I'm not astounded -- just disappointed. Your position as anauthor is the reverse of your position as a WISP, but you want it all your
way both times. Good luck with that.There is no such thing as intellectual property -- if you can't reach out and touch it, it isn't property. The copyright monopoly for creative work exists to encourage people to create works that are useful to society, by
granting them a temporary monopoly, from which to profit. That monopoly was originally good for 28 years, after that the work became part of the public domain: society's reward for allowing you to keep your monopoly. Now that monopoly extends for the life of the creator + 75 years; what incentive is that for a dead man to create more works? So now the government has decided that it's in the public interest toallow one company to index books that are still under monopoly protection.
If you don't like that, lobby your congressman and have him pass a law, just like the telecoms do. - Craig -
Begin forwarded message: From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net> Date: May 21, 2009 11:04:29 AM EDT To: dave () farber net, "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] Google Book-Scanning Pact to Give Libraries a Say in Price - NYTimes.com Dave, and everyone: I am astonished by the entire Google book licensing scheme. Section 8 of the US Constitution says that I, as an author, am entitled to be granted the exclusive rights to my work for a limited (although constantly expanding) period of time. It does NOT authorize the government to grant rights to that work to any third party. Doing so would not only exceed the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution (and thus be unconstitutional), but would also be an unconstitutional "taking" under the 5th Amendment. I am astonished that the government would even consider granting to a single corporation -- most especially Google -- the exclusive right to use my works without my consent. I want companies to be able to bid for that right. What's more, given that Google, since its merger with DoubleClick, is the number one source of spyware "cookies" on the Internet and is lobbying in DC to regulate and destroy my business as an ISP, Google is the company to which I would be least likely to agree to license my work. --Brett Glass ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Re: Google Book-Scanning Pact to Give Libraries a Say in Price - NYTimes.com David Farber (May 21)