Eric Flint on the future (was Paul Krugman holds forth on the future of publishing)

From: "Robotech_Master"
Just to mention, in a subject vaguely related to the original 
intent of this
thread, the latest in Eric Flint's column series "Salvos Against 
Big
Brother" is online:

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Nature_of_Transitions

He looks at the question:

Even if it's only a mental experiment at the moment, what would 
happen if
electronic publishing did become the dominant form of 
publication-or even
the almost exclusive form? What if any changes would be needed in 
the
various policies that I've advocated so far?

-- 
Chris Meadows aka | WWW: http://www.terrania.us | Somebody help,
Robotech_Master | ICQ: 5477383 AIM: RoboMastr | I'm trapped in
[email protected] | Skype, Gizmo: Robotech_Master | a sig 
file!
[email protected] | Yahoo: robotech_master_2000 |

********
I thought at first I was going to agree with Eric Flint's piece 
and was settling nicely in.

But then I felt he lost track of what he was trying to do and 
ended up trying to prove things while demonstrating others as 
support.

Broadly I though he was saying that only novels are published on 
the internet [whether he meant that or not], technology changes 
the form [which I believe McLuan said as 'the medium is the 
message'], piracy - like the poor - will always be with us so 
don't make sweat, some writers are good at one thing - some at 
another [granted without difficulty], and we therefore don't need 
copyright.

I will address only copyright, since the others are either good 
topics for leisurely discussion or plainly not what he thought he 
was saying [of course he knows novels are not the only thing 
published on the net].

I have never seen an argument worth any time that denies the 
importance of copyright, though I acknowledge there are 
discussions with merit about the length of copyright.   But I 
would contend the dangers to copyright from digital technology 
are great.

At the same time I agree with Eric Flint that that is not from 
the individuals, or even the sharing groups - they need to be 
reminded about the matter, but they are not likely to cause a 
great change in profitbility.

The real danger is from organisations like Google, who are 
chipping away at copyright and the intention of copyright, and 
are seeing that theft as great for their bottom line.   For 
authors there is not any reassurance in this, as Eric Flint tries 
to suggest.

If anything you write is immediately available for free on major 
sites like Google [paid for by advertising on 'the only place to 
advertise'] people assume it is OK, because, after all, isn't 
Google 'for the little man?'.   That is where Google is heading; 
if it succeeds Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft and others will not be 
far behind.

It is the part Eric Flint did not address, yet I cannot imagine 
any author or publisher is unaware of that danger.

Joseph Harris



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