:: Threnody for the Public Domain ::

:: Saturday, April 26, 2003 ::

DMCA and Copyleft

Take a look at this discussion on Slashdot. It seems that an author of several copylefted works is disturbed that an unknown individual is taking his works and selling them on eBay as if they were 1) his own work, and 2) not already available for free. The author wants to stop this activity on the grounds that it's unethical and that by selling the materials, the unknown individual is violating the idea of copyleft by taking free information and making it not free.

Even more troubling is the issue of how to stop this abuse. If the author invokes the DMCA, eBay would be forced to turn over identifying info about the unknown seller.

Is this a good use of bad policy, or a principal-rending action tantamount to capitulation?

I'm still mulling this over and I'm sure that I'll have more to say on it later, but my first thought is that using the DMCA would be counter-productive in the long run. The respondents on Slashdot suggested other ways of getting the info through eBay, working with eBay to stop the abuse, or (probably most sound) calling a lawyer. But it seems to me that the best thing to do is to fight information with information. The works in question are physics textbooks and the author is most concerned that the buyers of the copyleft materials won't know that the info is already free and that they have the right to modify these works. Perhaps the first thing to do is to send out notices and postings within this specialized community letting them know that this is going on. In addition, though this just occurs to me now and I don't know if ebay would let you do it, but the author might try to set up his own storefront on eBay to "vend" the copylefted works. Through this vehicle, he could get out the word to would-be buyers that are outside of the obvious physics community that these works are actually free. What a way to undercut the competition!

Tip o' the pen to Kurt!

:: Lauren 3:18 PM [+] ::
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World Book and Copyright Day

April 23 has been named World Book and Copyright Day by UNESCO. The date, chosen because it marks the birth and/or death of gaggle of writers, is intended to encourage young people in particular "to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity."

I've got a couple of thoughts on this event. First, it's interesting to me that UNESCO wants to associate "respect for the irreplaceable contributions" of the canon of writers and thinkers of the world with reverence for copyright. It seems to me that many of the people mentioned in conjunction with the UNESCO event, like Cervantes and Shakespeare, were successful contributors to "the social and cultural progress of humanity" without the aid of copyright law. How many creative works now are being blocked or are forbidden because of unbalanced copyright protections? Mightn't these works also enrich humanity?
How much of the impact and influence of these works has been due to their general availability in the public domain?

Also, It is limiting and short-sighted to associate copyright strictly with books, as this event does. The efforts of WIPO and the impact of new legislation such as the DMCA should be a clear indication that copyright is not merely an issue of book-format, or even of physical, printed information.

:: Lauren 11:19 AM [+] ::
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