Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
I can't believe the general public would feel so strongly about publishers as to make regulating them a big public issue. I suppose that if publishers start making Apple/Microsoft-style profit margins, public sentiment could turn against them, but don't count on it.
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Correct.
To get that kind of action from the general public you would need extensive media-prodding (like the regular "unhealthy food" scandals) to grease the skids and that will never happen as the mainstream media is (incestuosly) in bed with the giant multinational publishers.
Also, the general public in many (most?) doesn't care enough about libraries to fund them properly or even use them much. Let's nor forget that the general public is composed of *three* segments: avid readers, casual readers, and non-readers. The latter make a plurality in most areas, if not outright majorities.
This is one case where counting on government to step in and "save us" isn't going to happen. If libraries are to be "saved" they'll have to do it themselves by banding together and leveraging their collective buying power.
(As I said above: 122,000 libraries. Add thir total book-buying budgets and the BPHs will listen. Or else.)