- Fascinating scientific detective work reconstructing the DNA of the black plague. Fascinating, too, how even something as horrible as plague can ultimately change the world for the better.
- See? We told you never to talk to cops.
- Oooh. This is gonna be good. “A tale of suspense, pyromania and sexual tension, coming to an Amazon near you!” J.D. Tuccille can write like nobody’s business. He’s even entertaining when he’s just blogging about being a dad. I’m gettin’ my hands on a review copy ASAP!
- Bill St. Clair on respecting intellectual property without government.
- Is it a good sign or a bad sign when they’re talking about the Weimar hyperinflation on CBS?
- Way to go, little ISP.
- Hey, Silver now has a blog.
I’ve had trouble with the arguments re: IP for several years. I do think it’s the right thing to do, and have gone out of my way to pay for work online. I have also read the arguments against (including Kinsella’s _Against Intellectual Property_) and I agree with no government interference.
But a lot of the argument against IP slips into IDEAS, rather than the printed/written work itself. I’ve heard arguments that equate a book and the ideas from that book interchangeably. Where ideas are concerned, I think the field is open. (In my early twenties, I expounded on a psychological idea with its concomitant conclusion that I later read almost verbatim in one of Rand’s books, _The Virtue of Selfishness_. The idea was original with me, as it was with her. She put it in a book, and related it to a series of other ideas that had a name, Objectivism. Thus the book became worthy of IP. The single idea itself was *not* open to IP.)
Likewise, if one takes an idea and expands on it (to another conclusion or to a completely different application), the idea within that usage no longer can be said to belong to the original author. (This is somewhat what Nathaniel Branden did as a psychologist. Though I’m not sure how much he used Objectivism to manufacture his theory of psychology. But that’s a different issue.)
I agree with Bill St. Clair that “The issue is respect. If an author or inventor spends his precious time creating a story or a tool or toy that enhances my life, my respect and gratitude to him for doing so will cause me to naturally respect his wishes for compensation for his work. If I wish an author/inventor to be able to create more stories/inventions, I will want to pay her to enable that. Respecting a creator will also cause me to naturally disrespect someone who copies her work and attempts to pass it off as his own.”
I don’t question any author’s work or invention; it _should_ be protected. Further, it doesn’t matter if it enhances my life or not; it should be respected as an original.
But where do original ideas, and what a person thinks, says or writes (such as online), fit into IP? Or do they? This is an issue that I question.
Oh… one more thing, to Bill: I’m not convinced that EULA (End User License Agreement) is the answer *until it is changed.* Why shouldn’t I be allowed to give away a copy of a book without (some sort of) reprisal? We give books to libraries, or to friends, all the time. Perhaps we just shouldn’t be able to *sell* them to anyone. Or are you talking only about online books — ebooks and PDFs?
I am not a “believer” in IP, but I try really, really hard to respect the wishes of those who are.
My books, such as they are, are all offered online at no cost. It would be nice if people sent some money my way if they like a book of mine, but I’m not going to demand it.
I even suppose, if they took the contents of the book and put their name on it to pass off as their own I would be pretty irritated. But I wouldn’t send the State after them. It isn’t worth it to me to get involved with the State for any reason. Would I feel differently if I were actually making any money from my books? I don’t know. It is possible that such an event would bring me more money in the long run. And I probably would tell others that the book was really mine.
As for ideas- Everything I read gets dumped into the pot that is my mind and it melts into the stew. Immediately I can’t tell if the ideas in my head originated with me, or if they were based upon something I read, or if the ideas mated and produced a new thought. When I remember getting an idea from a specific place I acknowledge it (just in case the idea is a screwball one that will come back to bite me later- jk). Often I have ideas crop up in my head from a logical (to me) train of thought, and later find almost the exact same thought in someone else’s writings. I attribute that to “great minds think alike”.
Never talk to the police has been a personal mantra for years now. It took some effort but I was able to get my children to understand why as well and that it was in their best interest to never have interaction with the police when avoidable.
It still amazes me that when I broach the topic with friends and coworkers I get bovine inspired looks and comments about cooperating with the police. It cost a coworker dearly when the police showed up in force to “question” her husband and they let them in, talked to them and watched her husband be hauled off for interrogation based solely on what they told the police. Fortuantely he was ultimately found innocent. The prosecutor and court had no interest in the fact that he had not been mirandized at any point.
At least 98% of the non fiction I read comes from library sales where I pay $0.10 to $0.50 per book. It has been quite a while since I could routinely afford to buy new books. The authors of the used books I buy from the library make nothing from the sale and I usually pass the books on to someone else to read after I’ve read them.
Serious question: Does this mean I am not respecting the IP rights of the authors?
If books could only be read by the original purchaser I suspect that there are many authors that would be almost completely unknown and as a result make nearly nothing for their efforts. In the digital age there needs to some new ideas about how artists, authors and musicians can get fair payment for their labor.
“Serious question: Does this mean I am not respecting the IP rights of the authors?”
Woody, Pat and all — Not trying to speak for Bill, but I don’t think that’s what he intended. (And I know that I’m personally opposed to any concept of IP that would preclude giving away or selling one’s personal copy of an artwork or book, or that demands royalties for the creator in such a circumstance.)
Also, even today’s sometimes-obnoxious state-enforced version of IP recognizes that an idea can’t be copyrighted — for all the reasons Pat and Kent note.
IP is never going to be a simple, black & white subject. But I think Bill is right that the key is respecting the fact that creators … well, are creators and aren’t just cows to be milked for someone else’s benefit.
Woody, I agree that sometimes creators benefit by the free spread of their works. Where I disagree with the ivory-tower anti-IP folks is that I consider it outrageous that someone who played no role in the creation should have more “right” to make that decision than the creator him or herself.
And yep, there needs to be — and will be — new ways to deal with IP in the digital age. The institutional forces that are using government and lawsuits to try to keep IP in the 20th century aren’t going to prevail.
Ebook compilers with encryption can help writers self-publish online, and ensure privacy and security at the same time.
http://www.ebookgold.com/
http://www.ebookswriter.com/
http://www.ebookcompiler.com/
http://bersoft.com/hmhtml/index.htm
Ebook templates for OpenOffice.
http://softwaretopic.informer.com/openoffice-templates-ebook/
Or have online publishers do it for them.
https://www.lulu.com/s1/ebook_publishing/
Or have someone design/compile their book for them and submit it to the publisher of choice.
Hey! I like what you’ve been doing with the blog, looks like I’ve got a little catching up to do…good to be back though!
pvt. winston! It’s great to see you back. We’ve missed you around here!