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Originally Posted by rlauzon
There's also the issue of who owns culture. If all books were effectively free, but locked up by corporations forever, the corporations end up owning culture.
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It's a valid point (and a good example). Perhaps I'm relying too much on the darknet to keep the books available regardless of what the publishers want.
But I'm not sure this is as radically different from the situation we have today as you are saying. Yes, one can resell paper books (and the publishers and some authors hate this, btw). But many people don't resell them, they get pulped or burned, and valuable works are lost as a result. Did you know
A. A. Milne was an accomplished playwright? Fewer than half of his plays are still preserved in sources such as Project Gutenberg, though. They weren't considered interesting enough (compared to his tremendously popular children's books) to save.
I'm not saying I think the scheme I've outlined above would preserve books any better -- I don't think it would be even as good as the paper system currently in use. But I think it's a matter more of degree than kind.