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Originally Posted by yvanleterrible
Many people buy books and records used. I do most of mine and not out of greed. When one buys used, nothing goes to the author. Should we outlaw used media outlets? I would like to see funds reach the authors in more ways, what they get is often ridiculous.
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Authors get nothing from library loans in most countries. They get nothing from used book sales.
The concepts underpinning the copyright laws are plainly unworkable. For example, some libraries "loan" ebooks. If my friend owns "Ender's Game" and I ask him if he would be willing to loan it to me to read if I asked him to. He replies in the affirmative. The author won't benefit in any way, so I might as well download it from a warez site rather than driving across town to pick up the book.
Messy isn't it? It gets worse! In the mid 80's I had a software company. I caught a vendor making and selling copies of my software. I requested the FBI to enforce the copyright laws. They promised to investigate. Three weeks later when I had heard nothing from them I called. They informed me they would do nothing (including, apparently, answer my complaint) because
there wasn't enough money involved! But just watch them start hopping around if Microsoft calls! Is a citizen obligated to obey a law that fails to protect him and only supports the interests of the wealthy?
If a song is played on the radio, the artists get a royalty. How can we build a system so that when a book is read, the author gets a royalty? Obviously paper books will never accomplish this. But the right system of eBook eReaders could. I'm talking micropayments. A penny a page? Your reader sends an updated count in every time it is connected?
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Some would still cheat on this system, but I bet more authors would make more money and more books would be written as a result. I am in favor of uploading all written works with an author's embedded signature. Anyone could upload. Hee hee -- no editors! More writers could break into "print". People would visit sites to read popularity ratings then freely download what they like. If and when they read the book, the author would get a couple of bucks.
