D is for Digitize links
Just a few links I’ll be referring to at D is for Digitize today—posted here for easy access. I’m also adding some notes below.
- Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store
- EPIC 2014
- Salacious bonus! Bookporn
Puzzle. How do you find someone to represent the interests of the owners of orphan works? By definition, if you know you’re the owner of an orphan work… it’s not an orphan work anymore.
Breadth. The original litigation focused on search snippet display on Google Books—fair use or infringement? But the settlement that emerged was… much larger. It describes whole new initiatives for Google—it reads almost more like a broad commercial agreement than a settlement. Many of the objections have a problem with this breadth.
Class action. Rule 23—the rule that governs class action in the U.S.—is unique in its scope; other countries has class action rules, but not with the (potential) power of rule 23. The whole logic of a class action seems strange to non-Americans. But “we’ve all grown up getting those notices we can’t understand”—we’re more comfortable with the idea. (Though that doesn’t mean we understand it any better.)
Psychology. Well-established: when it’s an opt-out settlement, you get wide participation. When it’s opt-in, you don’t. Hey, just like the internet!
Jonathan Band. Super-impressive.
Innovation. One way to look at it: the settlement moves us from a “handicraft” model—a custom contract for every author—to an industrial model—a set of rules, and either you play or you don’t.
Analogies. “We need the digital equivalent of buying a book with cash. We need the digital equivalent of hiding a book under your bed.”
Gear. Dan Reetz made a special backpack to smuggle books out of the library—lined with copper to confound the sensors. He scanned them, took ‘em back.
Marketing. In Russia, ISPs compete based on who can offer you the best package of pirated software and books.