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Freedom Doublespeak.

Submitted by kfogel on Mon, 2010-01-25 09:11

Famed science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin recently circulated a petition opposing the Google Books Settlement.

If you want to understand why QuestionCopyright.org exists and what we're trying to do, you couldn't ask for a more succint demonstration than this passage below from Le Guin's petition:

The free and open dissemination of information and of literature, as it exists in our Public Libraries, can and should exist in the electronic media. All authors hope for that. But we cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it. ^{(emphasis added)}

When an intelligent, sensitive author like Ursula K. Le Guin can write something like that, apparently oblivious to the glaring internal contradiction, it's clear the time is ripe for this issue to be radically reframed.

"To have freedom, we must have monopoly and control. Up is down. Love is hate. War is peace."

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Videos

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"The Revolution Will Be Animated" (documentary by Marine Lormant Sebag)

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"History of Copyright and Information Ownership" (Talk by Karl Fogel, at the Stanford University Library, 19 Oct 2006)

The talk lasts about 90 minutes, including the question-and-answer period. The audience members' backgrounds were in library science, computer science, publishing, and law, so the Q&A is as useful as the talk.