Hey, they like it! :-) Okay, next instalment coming up.
Brad and Jess, you bring up an interesting point, worth a bit of discussion - not entirely on-topic, but OTOH quite a few of us have copyrighted stuff on our websites and so on, as with the Journey to Forever Biofuels library, Steve Spence's WebConX and Kirk's Micro_Cogeneration list. Steve once got savagely attacked by some guy who reckoned Steve was ripping off his copyright. Yo, Steve, that guy was nuts, eh? And he missed the point - well, he missed every point going, especially that Steve was not profiting from it in any way, and Steve's use of the piece should have been covered by the Fair Use law, which is also what we reckon covers us, and many other people reckon the same. But does it? Which party can afford the biggest lawyer? As ever. And in this age of the global web, none of these national laws makes a lot of sense. The laws are up for review, exactly because of the online issues and globalism, but the process isn't exactly galloping along, and meanwhile the corporations are pushing to nail down ownership of everything including your ass. (Damn, I hope that last bit's an exaggeration!) Brad, I agree Anthony probably won't mind (he won't get more sales though, it's out of print), but others certainly mind, and publishers more so than authors, when they own copyright. (Hey, I own lots of copyright, and I'm a publisher too, so I'm on both sides of this.) For instance, one online library I'm friendly with recently got a nasty, threatening letter from a big commercial publisher about a long out-of-print book my friend had online, saying they were planning to republish the book (BS, we both thought) and that his having it online "puts a serious dent in our project, not to mention the financial loss that this implies." He couldn't afford to fight them and had to withdraw the book, which is now not available either online or off, great. But, quite to the contrary, here's Jess, finding something online, loving it, and rushing off to buy a hard-copy. I'm pretty sure that's a very common response. That's what Steve's little friend missed too - Steve had a link on the piece to that guy's site, it would have been driving traffic to him. These people are too grasping to realise that giving it away for nothing on the web actually encourages sales, rather than a "financial loss". That's against all their instincts. They don't understand the web either. Virtually every newspaper has discovered that, usually with great reluctance. They all thought web editions would eat into sales, they were all forced to change their tune, and now they all know that free web access enhances sales. Only very few, like the WSJ, can afford to be snooty about it. Commercial publishers, as usual, are way behind. By contrast with the above nameless publisher who threatened my friend, Mother Earth News discovered that Journey to Forever had their alcohol manual online, including the ME waste oil heater. They wrote to me saying, "Are you aware there's a page missing? Would you like us to send it to you?" They're not dumb! Look what Joseph Jenkins does with his "The Humanure Handbook" - he sells hardcopies from his website, where you can ALSO download a full-text online version for nothing! He's no fool either. (Good book!) http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/ See "Humanure online!" Most of us who do this with online stuff are little guys who can't afford big lawyers, and we live in expectation of being attacked for it. So, Jess, thanks for the ammo! Any more ammo for me, guys? Best Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Osaka, Japan http://journeytoforever.org/ >Kieth, >I don't think the author will mind that his book is getting passed around.he >is sure to sell more copies now. >I think it should be made into a movie. >thanks for sharing it with us. >Brad > > >[AOAR Welch B.] > -----Original Message----- >From: studio53 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 7:46 PM >To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com >Subject: Re: [biofuel] OPEC, Big Oil and you - interested? > > > >Keith, >I was so interested in the story, I went out and ordered myself a copy. This >is great reading, and gives us a small glimpse into the control that big oil >has over us. >Thanks, >Jess > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Jesse Parris | studio53 | graphics / web design | >stamford, ct ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4. No Minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
