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I just want to kind of state where I'm coming from personally.
My own take on the problem of authors/copyright is that its a pragmatic problem. What we want is a way to maximise the availability of "stuff", while making it possible to make a reasonable (with respect to demand) income. There's never going to be a perfect solution to this.
With regards to e-books, what you have is a wonderful opportunity. Access to e-books is practically unlimited. The problem is how can you provide incentives to authors, without damaging too much the wonderful possibilities of new technologies (and they are wonderful, just as the equally frightening printing press was wonderful). So far, everything authors and publishers have suggested would simply reduce the possibilities with regards to existing technologies (dead tree books). Not only do I think that is practically impossible, but the loss to society has a whole would massively outweigh the benefits. The existing system is (or was. Existing copyright lengths are insane) a reasonable system for what it existed for the last 100 years. I think a new system is needed to reflect technological, and the inevitable social, changes to come.
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