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author | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2016-02-27 16:06:24 +0100 |
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committer | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2016-02-27 16:06:24 +0100 |
commit | 9bc6e42b63e352cfec2afcd2ff66939f6628fd7e (patch) | |
tree | 169fa7a35a26d19a8bc9828341b1e03aa2dd8ec9 /examples/blog/articles/scrap1_19.html | |
parent | da09a394b3eab66d2a0a649df836b0ab98b056ad (diff) | |
parent | 1b46587b4d36bec34d502bb0470dd303e4b49dd5 (diff) | |
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diff --git a/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_19.html b/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_19.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2091a788 --- /dev/null +++ b/examples/blog/articles/scrap1_19.html @@ -0,0 +1,144 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html><!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations +of this book from the original English into another language provided +the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and +the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all +copies. + +ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 +Cover design by Rob Myers. + +Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. + --><!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 +texi2html was written by: + Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) + Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> + Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> + and many others. +Maintained by: Many creative people. +Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> +--><head><title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 19. Science Must Push Copyright Aside</title><meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."><meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 19. Science Must Push Copyright Aside"><meta name="resource-type" content="document"><meta name="distribution" content="global"><meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"></head><body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="Push-Cop-Aside"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><a href="/"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></a></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Science-Must-Push-Copyright-Aside"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 19. Science Must Push Copyright Aside </h1> + +<a name="index-libraries_002c-access-fees-and"></a> +<p>It should be a truism that the scientific literature exists to +disseminate scientific knowledge, and that scientific journals exist +to facilitate the process. It therefore follows that rules for use of +the scientific literature should be designed to help achieve that +goal. +</p> +<p>The rules we have now, known as copyright, were established in the +age of the printing press, an inherently centralized method of +mass-production copying. In a print environment, copyright on journal +articles restricted only journal publishers—requiring them to +obtain permission to publish an article—and would-be +plagiarists. It helped journals to operate and disseminate knowledge, +without interfering with the useful work of scientists or students, +either as writers or readers of articles. These rules fit that system +well. +</p> +<p>The modern technology for scientific publishing, however, is the +World Wide Web. What rules would best ensure the maximum +dissemination of scientific articles, and knowledge, on the web? +Articles should be distributed in nonproprietary formats, with open +access for all. And everyone should have the right to +“mirror” articles—that is, to republish them verbatim +with proper attribution. +</p> +<p>These rules should apply to past as well as future articles, when +they are distributed in electronic form. But there is no crucial need +to change the present copyright system as it applies to paper +publication of journals because the problem is not in that domain. +</p> +<p>Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone agrees with the truisms +that began this article. Many journal publishers appear to believe +that the purpose of scientific literature is to enable them to publish +journals so as to collect subscriptions from scientists and +students. Such thinking is known as “confusion of the means with +the ends.” +</p> +<p>Their approach has been to restrict access even to read the +scientific literature to those who can and will pay for it. They use +copyright law, which is still in force despite its inappropriateness +for computer networks, as an excuse to stop scientists from choosing +new rules. +</p> +<p>For the sake of scientific cooperation and humanity’s future, we +must reject that approach at its root—not merely the +obstructive systems that have been instituted, but the mistaken +priorities that inspired them. +</p> +<p>Journal publishers sometimes claim that online access requires +expensive high-powered server machines, and that they must charge +access fees to pay for these servers. This “problem” is a +consequence of its own “solution.” Give everyone the +freedom to mirror, and libraries around the world will set up mirror +sites to meet the demand. This decentralized solution will reduce +network bandwidth needs and provide faster access, all the while +protecting the scholarly record against accidental loss. +</p> +<p>Publishers also argue that paying the editors requires charging for +access. Let us accept the assumption that editors must be paid; this +tail need not wag the dog. The cost of editing for a typical paper is +between 1 percent and 3 percent of the cost of funding the research to produce +it. Such a small percentage of the cost can hardly justify obstructing +the use of the results. +</p> +<a name="index-universities-3"></a> +<p>Instead, the cost of editing could be recovered, for example, +through page charges to the authors, who can pass these on to the +research sponsors. The sponsors should not mind, given that they +currently pay for publication in a more cumbersome way, through +overhead fees for the university library’s subscription to the +journal. By changing the economic model to charge editing costs to the +research sponsors, we can eliminate the apparent need to restrict +access. The occasional author who is not affiliated with an +institution or company, and who has no research sponsor, could be +exempted from page charges, with costs levied on institution-based +authors. +</p> +<p>Another justification for access fees to online publications is to +fund conversion of the print archives of a journal into online +form. That work needs to be done, but we should seek alternative ways +of funding it that do not involve obstructing access to the +result. The work itself will not be any more difficult, or cost any +more. It is self-defeating to digitize the archives and waste the +results by restricting access. +</p> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-defend-progress-of-science-from-copyright"></a> +<p>The +<a name="index-Constitution_002c-copyright-and-US-2"></a> +US Constitution says that copyright exists “to promote +the Progress of Science.” When copyright impedes the progress of +science, science must push copyright out of the way. +<a name="index-libraries_002c-access-fees-and-1"></a> +</p><hr size="2"></section></body></html> |