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<title>E-Books: Freedom Or Copyright |
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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> |
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<div class="article reduced-width"> |
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<h2>E-Books: Freedom Or Copyright</h2> |
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|
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<address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard |
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Stallman</a></address> |
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<p>Once upon a time, in the age of the printing press, an industrial |
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regulation was established to cover the business of writing and |
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publishing. It was called copyright. Copyright's purpose, stated in |
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the US Constitution, was to “promote progress”—that |
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is, to encourage publication. The method used was to make publishers |
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get permission from authors for using recent works.</p> |
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|
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<p>Ordinary readers had little reason to disapprove, since copyright |
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restricted only publication, not the things a reader could do. If it |
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raised the price of a book a small amount, that was only money; it did |
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not contort readers' way of life. Copyright provided a public benefit, |
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as intended, with little burden on the public. It did its job |
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well—back then.</p> |
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<p>Then a new way of distributing information came about: computers |
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and networks. The advantage of digital information technology is |
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that it facilitates copying and manipulating information, including |
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software, musical recordings and books. Networks offered the |
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possibility of unlimited access to all sorts of data, an |
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information utopia.</p> |
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|
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<p>But one obstacle stood in the way: copyright. Readers who |
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made use of their computers to share published information were |
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technically copyright infringers. The world had changed around this |
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law, so that what was once an industrial regulation on publishers |
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had become a restriction on the public it was meant to serve.</p> |
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|
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<p>In a system of real democracy, a law that prohibits a popular, |
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natural, and useful activity is usually soon relaxed. But the |
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powerful publishers' lobby was determined to prevent the public |
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from taking advantage of the power of their computers, and found |
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copyright a suitable weapon. Under their influence, rather than |
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relaxing copyright to suit the new circumstances, governments made |
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it stricter than ever, imposing harsh penalties on readers caught |
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sharing.</p> |
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|
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<p>But that wasn't the last of it. Computers can be powerful tools |
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of domination, when a few people control what other people's |
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computers do. The publishers realized that by forcing people to use |
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specially designated software to read e-books, they could gain |
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unprecedented power: they could compel readers to pay, and identify |
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themselves, every time they read a book! That is the publishers' |
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dream.</p> |
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<p>So they prevailed upon the US government to give them the |
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, a law giving them total |
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legal power over almost anything a reader might do with an e-book. |
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Even reading it without authorization is a crime.</p> |
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<div class="announcement comment" role="complementary"> |
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<hr class="no-display" /> |
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<p><a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/ebooks.html">Join our mailing list |
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about the dangers of eBooks</a>.</p> |
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<hr class="no-display" /> |
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</div> |
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<p>We still have the same old freedoms in using paper books. But if |
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e-books replace printed books, that exception will do little good. |
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With “electronic ink,” which makes it possible to download |
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new text onto an apparently printed piece of paper, even newspapers |
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could become ephemeral. Imagine: no more used book stores; no more |
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lending a book to your friend; no more borrowing one from the public |
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library—no more “leaks” that might give someone a |
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chance to read without paying. And judging from the ads for Microsoft |
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Reader, no more anonymous purchasing of books. This is the world |
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publishers have in mind for us.</p> |
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<p>Why is there so little public debate about these momentous changes? |
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Most citizens have not yet had occasion to come to grips with the |
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political issues raised by this futuristic technology. Besides, the |
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public has been taught that copyright exists to “protect” |
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the copyright holders, with the implication that the public's |
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interests do not count.</p> |
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<p>But when the public at large begins to use e-books, and |
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discovers the regime that the publishers have prepared for them, |
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they will begin to resist. Humanity will not accept this yoke |
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forever.</p> |
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<p>The publishers would have us believe that suppressive copyright |
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is the only way to keep art alive, but we do not need a War on |
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Copying to encourage a diversity of published works; as the |
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Grateful Dead showed, copying among fans is not a problem for the |
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artists. By legalizing the noncommercial copying of e-books, we can |
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turn copyright back into the industrial regulation it once was.</p> |
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<p>For some kinds of writing, we should go even further. For |
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scholarly papers and monographs, everyone should be encouraged to |
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republish them verbatim online; this helps protect the scholarly |
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record while making it more accessible. For textbooks and most |
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reference works, publication of modified versions should be allowed |
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as well, since that encourages society to improve them.</p> |
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<p>Eventually, when computer networks provide an easy way to send |
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someone a small amount of money, the whole rationale for restricting |
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verbatim copying will go away. If you like a book, and it pops up a |
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box saying, “Click here to give the author one dollar,” |
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wouldn't you click? Copyright for books and music, as it applies to |
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distributing verbatim unmodified copies, will be entirely obsolete. |
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And not a moment too soon!</p> |
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<div class="announcement comment" role="complementary"> |
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<hr class="no-display" /> |
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<p>Also consider reading <a |
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href="/philosophy/ebooks-must-increase-freedom.html">E-books must |
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increase our freedom, not decrease it</a>.</p> |
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</div> |
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<div class="infobox extra" role="complementary"> |
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<hr /> |
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<p>This is a slightly modified version of an article published in |
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<cite>Technology Review</cite> in 2000.</p> |
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<p>Copyright © 2000, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> |
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<p class="unprintable">Updated: |
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$Date: 2021/09/02 08:55:39 $ |
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