Reading this & LeGuin, one can understand her worry, & many others';
but for a relatively little known poet, it may be less bothersome a
question. I mean, you, Alison, have your fantasy novels to worry
about, but many of us have a few collections of poems, & in my case, I
confess, only some hundreds of copies of all of the out there.
I get the worry, especially about the end-run around copyright, & the
refusal of LeGuin & others, to join, but I'm not sure it matters,
finally, to someone like me, one way or the other....
Doug
On 22-Jan-10, at 10:05 PM, Alison Croggon wrote:
> ...Still not sure whether to opt in or not. Either option strikes me
> as unsatisfactory.
>
> From the US authors' petition:
>
> "The “opt-out” clause in the Settlement is most disturbing:
>
> First, it seems unfair that, by the terms of the class-action
> settlement, authors can officially present objections to the Court
> only by being “opted in” to the settlement and thereby subjecting
> themselves to its terms.
>
> Second, while the “opt-out” clause appears to offer authors an easy
> way to defend their copyright, in fact it disguises an assault on
> authors’ rights. Google, like any other publisher or entity, should be
> required to obtain permission from the owner to purchase or use
> copyrighted material, item by item.
>
> There is no justification for reversing that rule by forcing copyright
> owners to defend their right against every careless or predatory use
> of the material, thus rendering copyright essentially meaningless.
>
> The United States Department of Justice agrees, having declared that
> Google should negotiate individually with copyright holders. The
> Director of the United States Copyright Office calls the Settlement
> “an end-run around copyright law.”
>
> The free and open dissemination of information and of literature, as
> it exists in our Public Libraries, can and should exist in the
> electronic media. All authors hope for that. But we cannot have free
> and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of
> written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or
> own legitimate right in it. We urge our government and our courts to
> allow no corporation to circumvent copyright law or dictate the terms
> of that control"
>
> If you don't have a problem with big corporations making money out of
> your work without your having any control over what they do, I guess
> what Google is doing isn't a problem. Otherwise, the implication are
> worrying.
>
> xA
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
Swept snow, Li Po,
by dawn's 40-watt moon
to the road that hies to office
away from home.
Lorine Niedecker
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