Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
And yet when you read about the amounts that people like J.K. Rowling and Bill Gates donate to charity, you have to wonder: how many of those dollars would have made it to charity if they had not been accumulated in such excess in the first place? I think it is an interesting question. Certainly their work has generated incomes for thousands of other people.
There are some very rich people out there that spend their money on buying political position, those you might make an argument for greed. Big business often speaks of how they benefit the community via the trickle-down effect, but with Rowling and Gates it has been much more than a trickle; greed is not a word I'd use with either of them.
|
I'm just flabbergasted that anyone would use the Harry Potter phenom as an example of how things shouldn't have been done.
There are very few industries where someone can use a product for free. The book industry has libraries just so people who might not be able to afford books can read. In the US, pretty much every community and school has some sort of library.
These days on the internet, there are tons of free books. Going back to the Harry Potter phenom. JK Rowling turns a blind eye to the massive amounts of Harry Potter fanfic, even though it's technically a violation of her copyright. There are PD books and books that various authors have released for free.
I complain more than most about the super long copyright laws, but I have no issue with an author and publisher making what they can during the duration of the copyright. I just don't like not being able to legally get the work, I'm fine paying for it.