2 ms·

It would look largely identical to ours, I think. It's pretty trivial to get access to many, if not most, e-books. Any public-domain work is available on Proje

It would look largely identical to ours, I think. It's pretty trivial to get access to many, if not most, e-books. Any public-domain work is available on Project Gutenberg [0]. Copyrighted works can be accessed for free using tools of various legality: Libby [1] is likely sponsored by your local library and gives free access to e-books and audiobooks. Library Genesis [2] has a questionable legal status but has a huge quantity of e-books, journal articles, and more. [0]: https://www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org [1]: https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby [2]: https://libgen.rs/fiction/ https://libgen.rs/fiction/

DennisP 3y ago
Public domain would be fine, if we had the original copyright term instead of "life of the author plus seventy years." Libby is an interesting option, though I'm curious how many kids in disadvantaged countries would actually have access to it. Regarding Libgen, I'm not convinced it makes the case for modern copyright to say it's fine, because people can just violate copyright.
- zugi 3y ago
  Exactly. The original copyright term was 14 years. Now Disney and the Intellectual Monopoly cartel have extended it 120 years, and convinced an unthinking population that anything less is "stealing."
thrixton 3y ago
It’s important to note that only some copyrighted works can be accessed for free using the legal options, I’m a member of probably a dozen overdrive supporting libraries and still frequently find titles unavailable for loan of any kind. I’d love to see an analysis of what % of books are available via libraries around the globe. Also, the whole DRM thing is a massive pain, audiobooks especially are terrible at allowing side-loading onto a consumer friendly device (such as an MP3 player).
- trogdor 3y ago
  >frequently find titles unavailable for loan of any kind Even through interlibrary loan?
sijourneyweezer 3y ago
Hoopla.com as well

DennisP 3y ago

Public domain would be fine, if we had the original copyright term instead of "life of the author plus seventy years." Libby is an interesting option, though I'm curious how many kids in disadvantaged countries would actually have access to it. Regarding Libgen, I'm not convinced it makes the case for modern copyright to say it's fine, because people can just violate copyright.

zugi 3y ago
Exactly. The original copyright term was 14 years. Now Disney and the Intellectual Monopoly cartel have extended it 120 years, and convinced an unthinking population that anything less is "stealing."

thrixton 3y ago

It’s important to note that only some copyrighted works can be accessed for free using the legal options, I’m a member of probably a dozen overdrive supporting libraries and still frequently find titles unavailable for loan of any kind. I’d love to see an analysis of what % of books are available via libraries around the globe. Also, the whole DRM thing is a massive pain, audiobooks especially are terrible at allowing side-loading onto a consumer friendly device (such as an MP3 player).

trogdor 3y ago
>frequently find titles unavailable for loan of any kind Even through interlibrary loan?

sijourneyweezer 3y ago

Hoopla.com as well