"And along a similar vein...

...Oddly parallel to Eminent Domain"


3 Quotes From...

"...But Not at Writers' Expense"
-by Nick Taylor
 October 22, 2005

"I am a writer... Only if my book sells well enough to earn back its advance will I make additional money, but the law of copyright assures me of ongoing ownership. With luck, income will flow to my publisher and me for a long time, but if my publisher loses interest, I will still own my book and be able to make money from it."

"Now that the Authors Guild has objected, in the form of a lawsuit, to Google's appropriation of our books, we're getting heat for standing in the way of progress, again for thoughtlessly wanting to be paid. It's been tradition in this country to believe in property rights. When did we decide that socialism was the way to run the Internet?"

"The value of Google's project notwithstanding, society has traditionally seen its greatest value in the rights of individuals, and particularly in the dignity of their work and just compensation for it."

Personal Note: Look, I know folks who download/pirate protected works. And honestly, I never used to think of it as theft. Some of the stuff available for download isn't even in print or available for media. Music, for example. The classic Buckingham Nicks album [the work that gained them entrance into Fleetwood Mac] isn't available on LP, Cassette, or CD. It was released for a limited time on CD, 1 or 2 years, but then it disappeared. If you want that album you have to hope you can out bid someone on eBay, last time I tried I lost out and the LP went for somewhere in the neighborhood of $160! That's right, $160 for a piece of vinyl that, brand new, didn't cost more than $12. And you can bet neither Lindsey Buckingham nor Stevie Nicks saw one penny from that sale. Everyone else has to hope they can find it online and download the album. A very good listen, by the way.

In situations like this I can see a "public domain" argument, though the Music Industry would scream otherwise. But when it comes to "fresh" tunes and movies-- no arguments here --it is stealing, plain and simple. And yet, for some reason, Google seems to think an author's work isn't comparable to, nor comparably protected, as a musicians works.

Is this another face of Eminent Domain? Theft for the public good? Authors better hope this issue never gets to today's U.S. Supreme Court. They just may come away from the experience birched and bereft.