Book People Archive

Re: Re: What's an ebook? and what's a book? ...

On Tue, 20 Mar 2001, Tonyia Young wrote:

> 
> Look to the film industry at the beginning of talking movies and the
> industry skeptics were sure that movie-goers would never accept this new
> technology, believing that consumers are creatures of habit, not about to
> accept that which had not yet proven to be successful. 

OK, let's look at the film industry. . . .

Most of the history of the film industry has been thrown in the trash.

A few years ago the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences [the Oscars {TM} people] made an impassioned plea for
everyone to look under their beds, in their attics and garages, etc.
for prints of the majority of movies that were simply thrown away
by the movie studios, leaving themselves without any copies whatever.

This is the industry that is pushing for longer and longer copyrights,
and yet they have proven incredibly irresponsible over their history.

Of course, what Mr. Valenti did NOT mention, was that if you gave him
back those films, you wouldn't have any right to them any longer. . .
while before you gave them back, you controlled all access to them,
as the owner of the only print. . .though not technically owner of
the copyright. . .though many were never renewed. . . .

If think how short copyrights were when movies started, and how many
copies could be made of movies today, we see that we have a much greater
chance of preserving these if we just let everyone who wants one make a
copy once the movie is out of print.

Same with books, music, etc.


> The Wright brothers,
> when attempting to invent the airplane were seen by some as rather strange
> men, who were wasting their time. How could they have known the future would
> unfold sonic jets? 

Under current copyright laws, of about 95.5 years in the US, much of the work
the Wright Brothers did would still be under copyright, and we would not have
the air industry we have today.

With such long copyrights, the plans could still be under copyright. . .
and we could still be propellor driven. . . .

> Back when I was in college, at the onset of the Internet,
> before classes were offered in this new emerging technology, a few
> professors of mine told classes of students, "it's a fad, sure to fizzle
> out." Of course now we have streaming video, communities of millions, and
> modems that scream. How could they have predicted? 
> 
Some of us did. . . .

I remember literally doing all the paperwork to get some professors
who are now very famous Internet personalities online. . .even to the
point of running all over campus with the papers, because they wouldn't
even come to the computer center to sign them.

The cost of progress is more than any of us imagine. . . .


Thanks!

So nice to hear from you!


Michael S. Hart
<hart@[redacted]>
Project Gutenberg
"Ask Dr. Internet"
Executive Director
Internet User ~#100