[LINK] In other news....

Jan Whitaker jwhit at melbpc.org.au
Tue Jun 26 08:33:29 AEST 2007


At 08:00 AM 26/06/2007, Stilgherrian wrote:

>I agree with you that there should be an equivalent "right" for us to borrow
>works in the digital realm.

There must be, or else libraries wouldn't be lending software, 
videos, DVDs and audio recordings, as well as print material.

There is another 'rights trick that is developing on the 'content 
sharing' 'services' like the ning.com system, which calls itself a 
social networking system. I've just stumbled across this when reading 
fine print before signing up. I decided not to subscribe. Essentially 
what you agree to is that your 'content' is available for anyone to 
use in any way they wish -- you are signing over all your rights. BUT 
you can put 'Private' on the content and hold onto I think one right 
(can't recall what it was exactly). Still, even the private 
designation wasn't enough to make me comfortable. What I found 
strange about this setup was that the application of the 'service' I 
looked at was for writers. One of the things you don't want to do as 
a writer is risk your rights if the ultimate goal is to sell your 
work to a publisher. If you've allowed exposure through these other 
places, paying publishers sometimes, not always, look and say it's 
already published, go away.

My point is that copyright holders need to be careful about how they 
expose their work in digital form, too. I'm sure Roger Clarke 
examined lots of that when involved in the Sharenet project.

Jan


Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
guests. - JW, May, 2007

'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
_ __________________ _



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