Quote:
Originally Posted by Morrigan
I do not understand the mentality behind those in favor of the google settlement... so perhaps someone can expalin it to me.
Why do people think they have a right to orphaned or out of print books? Which could be stated another way - why do people feel they have a right to a creation, the product of someone else's work?
And I am being serious - I simply do not get it. Why is someone's desire to read a book more important than then the creators of the books to decide how (or how not) to make it available?
|
Others have already addressed this, but I would like to add my two cents.
1. At least the original rights holder, by agreeing to have the book published, has agreed at least to some degree to make the work available to the general public. Once a book is published and in book stores and public libraries, we have a right to read it. At least in the United States, no one, not even the author can rescind that right once the book has been published.
2. The Google Book Settlement is not about reading books for free. Google is planning on charging for access to copyrighted works and set aside a share of the profits for author or rights holder compensation (I do share the authors concerns that "overhead" might eat up most of that compensation... but that is a detail that can be worked out).
3. The biggest issue people seem to have is Google moving forward even if the rights holder to a work has not been identified. I agree that this issue is problematic from a legal perspective, however when one considers that literally hundreds of thousands of books are published every year, it becomes a practical impossibility to track down every author.
Finally, I think the benefits are enormous and have yet to be fully appreciated by the public. Not only will it make less popular works more available to people who have interest in those works, but it will also essentially create a gigantic searchable database of information that can, I believe, be as revolutionary in its own way as public libraries or the internet where when they were first invented.
--
Bill