Subject: Re: Future position of libraries towards copyright 2
From: Michael S. Hart (hart@prairienet.org)
Date: to 08 tammi 1998 - 20:32:08 EET
It appears only too obvious that the Public Domain is under attack
from all sides, just as it was after Gutenberg, after the the steam
and electric presses, after the xerox machine, and now after the Net.
It is always ok to copy things as long as it is difficult. . .then it
is only the rich or dedicated who get to copy them. . .every single
time information becomes too available to the masses, laws are passed
to stop the public access to so much information.
At the beginning of this century most copyrights [in the U.S.] averaged
about 15 years. . .today they are so long that anything you read or see
is not going to enter the Public Domain in your lifetime. . .and they
are trying to add even 20 more years to THAT!
The laws are already in place to insure that 99.99% of all information
is kept from the Public Domain.
Thanks!
=============================================
Michael S. Hart, Professor of Electronic Text
Benedictine University [Illinois Benedictine]
Executive Director of Project Gutenberg Etext
Post Office Box 2782, Champaign IL 61825-3231
No official connection to U of Illinois--UIUC
Permanent Internet Address!!! hart@pobox.com
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