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On my side, I didn't consider that it might be copied from the book, given that copying from the web site should be much easier than either OCR or copy&paste fr

by dalke 12y ago

On my side, I didn't consider that it might be copied from the book, given that copying from the web site should be much easier than either OCR or copy&paste from some e-book. Your first posting didn't mention that you had spot-checked against the book, and I assumed that the infringement you were talking about was from xkcd.com and not from the book. Regarding a hypothetical Houghton Mifflin; I can conceive that Munroe is in a special enough position as to make special demands. (This is, in fact, not true - people on xkcd.com say that the e-books are DRM'ed.) I can also conceive of a mixed situation, where the book contains additional material not on the web site, and where only the new material was under a more restrictive copyright. (Another minor detail; the xkcd.com copyright license may be less restrictive than most, but it not free. There is still copyright protection on it.) I personally think the author doesn't much care about the matter. A review of the other book reviews shows they are more like digests, with many long, unmodified quotes and very little review or commentary.

lutusp 12y ago
> Your first posting didn't mention that you had spot-checked against the book, and I assumed that the infringement you were talking about was from xkcd.com and not from the book. Fair enough, I could have been more clear. > Another minor detail; the xkcd.com copyright license may be less restrictive than most, but it not free. That's an aspect of "free" and open-source that many people find confusing -- the person granting those permissions normally still wants control and fair attribution. > I personally think the author doesn't much care about the matter. A review of the other book reviews shows they are more like digests, with many long, unmodified quotes and very little review or commentary. Yes, or maybe he realizes nothing can be done, that it's a sign of the times. But I doubt that Houghton Mifflin's stockholders would go along if they were fully aware of what it implies about paper-book copyrights.

by dalke 12y ago

lutusp 12y ago

> Your first posting didn't mention that you had spot-checked against the book, and I assumed that the infringement you were talking about was from xkcd.com and not from the book. Fair enough, I could have been more clear. > Another minor detail; the xkcd.com copyright license may be less restrictive than most, but it not free. That's an aspect of "free" and open-source that many people find confusing -- the person granting those permissions normally still wants control and fair attribution. > I personally think the author doesn't much care about the matter. A review of the other book reviews shows they are more like digests, with many long, unmodified quotes and very little review or commentary. Yes, or maybe he realizes nothing can be done, that it's a sign of the times. But I doubt that Houghton Mifflin's stockholders would go along if they were fully aware of what it implies about paper-book copyrights.