Libraries and Archivists Are Scanning and Uploading Books That Are Secretly in the Public Domain (vice.com) 49
A coalition of archivists, activists, and libraries are working overtime to make it easier to identify the many books that are secretly in the public domain, digitize them, and make them freely available online to everyone. The people behind the effort are now hoping to upload these books to the Internet Archive, one of the largest digital archives on the internet. From a report: As it currently stands, all books published in the U.S. before 1924 are in the public domain, meaning they're publicly owned and can be freely used and copied. Books published in 1964 and after are still in copyright, and by law will be for 95 years from their publication date. But a copyright loophole means that up to 75 percent of books published between 1923 to 1964 are secretly in the public domain, meaning they are free to read and copy.
The problem is determining which books these are, due to archaic copyright registration systems and convoluted and shifting copyright law. As such, a coalition of libraries, volunteers, and archivists have been working overtime to identify which titles are in the public domain, digitize them, then upload them to the internet. At the heart of the effort has been the New York Public Library, which recently documented why the entire process is important, but a bit of a pain.
The problem is determining which books these are, due to archaic copyright registration systems and convoluted and shifting copyright law. As such, a coalition of libraries, volunteers, and archivists have been working overtime to identify which titles are in the public domain, digitize them, then upload them to the internet. At the heart of the effort has been the New York Public Library, which recently documented why the entire process is important, but a bit of a pain.
For those outside entertainment cartel arm (Score:5, Insightful)
The original intent of copyright was to allow all works into the public domain within a generation. 14 year copyright plus 14 years more IF the holder bothered to renew. So 28 years, that was the max.
I think those in countries not signatories to the absurdly long copyright periods the entertainment cartel paid the U.S. government and allies to enact should just scan everything older than 28 years and make available online by P2P with VPN protection. That would help to remove the stranglehold of those power and money grubbing scum using the DOJ's armed thugs as stormtroopers and terrorists.
That information belongs to the people, not self-appointed middlemen parasites.
Re:For those outside entertainment cartel arm (Score:5, Funny)
But... but... if copyright isn't extended, Elvis won't write any more songs!
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Can we vote to reduce Yoko Ono’s copyright to 14 seconds???
But that would mean unrestricted copying (Score:2)
And the world has suffered enough...
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Nobody wants to pirate that, dude.
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Its Aliens I tell ya! I seen ‘em!
Library branch closed evenings and weekends (Score:2)
Good luck having enough time to get to the library after school or work when the branch within walking distance is closed evenings and weekends. In my home town, I've seen branches open 9-6 on weekdays, closed Sundays year-round, and closed Saturdays from May 23 through September 5.*
* Those are respectively the Saturday before the earliest Memorial Day and the Saturday before the latest Labor Day.
Internet ? (Score:2)
Do they have websites?
- Here around, you can make a reservation for a book, so you can pick it up.
- Most of the libraries are member of a network through witch they lend e-Book (epub DRMed by Adobe) so you can actually check-out and read books without even needing to put a foot in the library on that day.
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Do they have websites?
The library makes its catalog available for search through its website. But if a patron has placed a hold on a paper book through the library's website, the patron still needs to present his or her library card in person during the branch's regular hours to pick it up. And though some Internet resources to which the library subscribes allow remote access by patrons who authenticate with a library card number, others must be accessed from the premises of a branch, authenticated through the branch's IP addres
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Re:For those outside entertainment cartel arm (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have a library, if your local library has it, if your local library hasn't gone along with censorship and banning (e.g. Mark Twain's works in some places)
Doesn't change the truth, the intent was for everything to be owned by the people, after a generation's worth of time to let author profit. The current situation stagnates culture and keeps people from information
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the United Shitholes of America of course
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The gerrymandering of election boundaries
The deliberate lack of polling stations in certain areas
The manipulations to policy by Corporations for their benefit, not the peoples.
The politics are so partisan now that representatives are no longer held accountable by their own voters
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I still love my kindle Voyager e-reader. With the wifi off, the battery life is a good month of 3hrs or so a day reading. And my library now lets you check out digital copies right to your device and when your time is up it just vanishes. You can renew if you need more time and turn in early if you’re done.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
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You can thank the MPAA and hollywood for that. They lobbied congress for copyright extensions. Now we have ridiculous extensions on books, songs, and video. Fake fears of mickey mouse becoming a public domain porn star. I know people on here love to blame the republicans for a bunch of shit on here; but when was the last time hollywood hosted $10,000 plate dinner fundraisers for any other party besides democrats? I can’t see republicans voting to cut them any sort of break given how much they have alw
Re:For those outside entertainment cartel arm (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe you should actually be sure where the parties stand before singling one out.
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I say we blast off and nuke the entire site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.
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They were stealing from the general public, stealing their right to access that content freely, they should have fucking asked. So why not sort out all the problems and have copyright 25 years from date of first publication and put that to a vote from the public, let's guess which way that vote would go. As an additional proviso, how about all content be checked, to ensure it is of worth to society, fail that tests and why should the public pay to protect it.
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Can we repeal the ridiculously long copyrights now that we know they don't stop mouse porn?
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As long as I dont have to watch duck porn. That damn duckjob.wav from the 99s way enough!!
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The fears may have been real: I'm pretty sure the Internet has made Mickey Mouse into a porn star.
Mickey (and the whole Disney animated crew) have been porn stars since at least 1967, when Krasner's The Realist published the Wally Wood "Disneyland Memorial Orgy" poster.
(I won't link to it. Search and ye shall find.)
Interestingly, Disney did NOT go after Krasner or The Realist for infringement - apparently recognizing that parody is protected speech and that a decision against them would likely lead down a
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Wow, that was far more tame than I expected. The Internet has ruined me.
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Wow, that was far more tame than I expected.
That was 1967 - one year after Memoirs v. Massachusetts (which led to two years more confusion), two years before the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (the pro-free-press findings of which were utterly ignored by Congress and state legislatures) and 19 years before the Meese Report. The federal and state governments were still heavily censoring anything erotic.
If it had been a little wilder, it would have been banned as obscene and the issue of
Three-generation principle in European copyright (Score:5, Informative)
The original intent of copyright was to allow all works into the public domain within a generation.
European countries perverted that intent to three generations in the nineteenth century [copyrightalliance.org]. Leo Lichtman explains:
Re:Three-generation principle in European copyrigh (Score:5, Insightful)
Cry me a fsking river. Patents are also based on creativity, but they don't afford protection for the same length of time as copyright. (Don't bring up patent trolls BTW. They are useless sucks on the world.) Q: Why not give patent owners three generations of protection?
A: Because it's a stupidly bad idea to grant that level of protection to ANYONE for anything they create or invent.
We should just go ahead and extend copyright protection to the heat death of the universe, because The Mouse will otherwise make it so, in little bits and pieces, as time moves on.
Authors Guild wants to roll back the term (Score:2)
We should just go ahead and extend copyright protection to the heat death of the universe, because The Mouse will otherwise make it so, in little bits and pieces, as time moves on.
The Authors Guild reportedly wants to roll back the copyright term from life plus 70 to life plus 50. (Source: "Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again" by Timothy B. Lee [arstechnica.com]) So at least we have an ally to help hold off further term extensions until at least January 1, 2024, which is when U.S. copyright in the original Mickey Mouse shorts, the Winnie the Pooh books, and other works published in 1928 expires under current law.
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... copyright protection should last through the author’s life and the life of his or her direct descendants: the author’s children, and the author’s grandchildren.
Why ? WHY ?!? Can't they get a fucking job like most other people ? I wish I could benefit from my grand-parents salaries long after they are dead. Imagine, a plumber installed a sink 60 years ago at your home and every time you use it you have to pay his grand children. That's so fucking egregious.
Re:For those outside entertainment cartel arm (Score:4, Interesting)
Umm, no. Originally, it was IF the AUTHOR bothered to renew. Not the holder....
Deja vu (Score:3)
Isn't this a duplicate from a couple weeks ago?
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If it was it sure slipped past me. I try to scan headlines twice daily.
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From Aug 6: https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
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Wow. I wonder if its getting like quora where its selective to what I get to see :-)
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95 year hole (Score:4)
Kudos (Score:1)
"Secret" seems the wrong word. (Score:3)
I mean, there's nothing secret about copyright law. It's all out there for anyone to read. Your average Joe (or average non-wonky-IP-lawyer) might not know the details but it's nothing you couldn't figure out if you cared.
Sadly (Score:4, Informative)
Scan everything and load it up (Score:2)
Seriously, just scan everything and put it out there. It's gonna happen sooner or later anyway.