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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright-old.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright-old.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b55b7f --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright-old.html @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 --> +<title>Freedom—or Copyright? (Old Version) +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/freedom-or-copyright-old.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> + +<h2>Freedom—or Copyright? (Old Version)</h2> + +<div class="announcement"> +<blockquote><p>There is an <a +href="/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright.html"> updated version</a> of +this article.</p></blockquote> +</div> + +<p> + by <strong>Richard M. Stallman</strong> +</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +The brave new world of e-books: no more used book stores, no more +lending a book to your friend, no more borrowing one from the public +library, no purchasing a book except with a credit card that +identifies what you read. Even reading an e-book without +authorization is a crime. +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p> +Once upon a time, in the age of the printing press, an industrial +regulation was established for the business of writing and +publishing. It was called copyright. Copyright's purpose was to +encourage the publication of a diversity of written +works. Copyright's method was to make publishers get permission +from authors to reprint recent writings.</p> + +<p> +Ordinary readers had little reason to disapprove, since copyright +restricted only publication, not the things a reader could do. If it +raised the price of a book a small amount, that was only +money. Copyright provided a public benefit, as intended, with little +burden on the public. It did its job well—back then.</p> + +<p> +Then a new way of distributing information came about: computers and +networks. The advantage of digital information technology is that it +facilitates copying and manipulating information, including software, +musical recordings and books. Networks offered the possibility of +unlimited access to all sorts of data—an information utopia.</p> + +<p> +But one obstacle stood in the way: copyright. Readers who made use of +their computers to share published information were technically +copyright infringers. The world had changed, and what was once an +industrial regulation on publishers had become a restriction on the +public it was meant to serve.</p> + +<p> +In a democracy, a law that prohibits a popular, natural and useful +activity is usually soon relaxed. But the powerful publishers' +lobby was determined to prevent the public from taking advantage of +the power of their computers, and found copyright a suitable +weapon. Under their influence, rather than relaxing copyright to suit +the new circumstances, governments made it stricter than ever, +imposing harsh penalties on readers caught sharing.</p> + +<p> +But that wasn't the last of it. Computers can be powerful tools of +domination when a few people control what other people's computers +do. The publishers realized that by forcing people to use specially +designated software to watch videos and read e-books, they can gain +unprecedented power: they can compel readers to pay, and identify +themselves, every time they read a book!</p> + +<p> +That is the publishers' dream, and they prevailed upon the +U.S. government to enact the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of +1998. This law gives them total legal power over almost anything a +reader might do with an e-book, as long as they publish the book in +encrypted form. Even reading the book without authorization is a +crime.</p> + +<p> +We still have the same old freedoms in using paper books. But if +e-books replace printed books, that exception will do little +good. With “electronic ink”, which makes it possible to +download new text onto an apparently printed piece of paper, even +newspapers could become ephemeral. Imagine: no more used book stores; +no more lending a book to your friend; no more borrowing one from the +public library—no more “leaks” that might give someone a +chance to read without paying. (And judging from the ads for Microsoft +Reader, no more anonymous purchasing of books either.) This is the +world publishers have in mind for us.</p> + +<p> +Why is there so little public debate about these momentous changes? +Most citizens have not yet had occasion to come to grips with the +political issues raised by this futuristic technology. Besides, the +public has been taught that copyright exists to “protect” +the copyright holders, with the implication that the public's +interests do not count. (The biased term +“<a href="/philosophy/not-ipr.html"> intellectual +property</a>” also promotes that view; in addition, it +encourages the mistake of trying to treat several laws that are almost +totally different—such as copyright law and patent law—as +if they were a single issue.)</p> + +<p> +But when the public at large begins to use e-books, and discovers the +regime that the publishers have prepared for them, they will begin to +resist. Humanity will not accept this yoke forever.</p> + +<p> +The publishers would have us believe that suppressive copyright is the +only way to keep art alive, but we do not need a War on Copying to +encourage a diversity of published works; as the Grateful Dead showed, +private copying among fans is not necessarily a problem for +artists. (In 2007, Radiohead made millions by inviting fans to copy an +album and pay whatever amount they wish; a few years before, Stephen King +got hundreds of thousands for an e-book which people could copy.) By +legalizing the copying of e-books among friends, we can turn copyright +back into the industrial regulation it once was.</p> + +<p> +For some kinds of writing, we should go even further. For scholarly +papers and monographs, everyone should be encouraged to republish them +verbatim online; this helps protect the scholarly record while making +it more accessible. For textbooks and most reference works, +publication of modified versions should be allowed as well, since that +encourages improvement.</p> + +<p> +Eventually, when computer networks provide an easy way to send someone +a small amount of money, the whole rationale for restricting verbatim +copying will go away. If you like a book, and a box pops up on your +computer saying “Click here to give the author one +dollar”, wouldn't you click? Copyright for books and music, as +it applies to distributing verbatim unmodified copies, will be +entirely obsolete. And not a moment too soon!</p> +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a +href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a +href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other +corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a +href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for +information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> +</div> + +<p>Copyright © 1999, 2008 Richard M. Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2014/04/12 12:40:05 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |