Ask Internet Expert Dave Barry

This is a man who obviously knows a lot about the Internet. I am not making this up. He wrote a book about it. He has his own blog, his own Web site, and his own online alt.fan newsgroup with its own FAQ. Not only that, he is in a band and writes a syndicated humor column that often covers matters of interest to Slashdot readers. What are you going to ask him? Up to you, as long as you hold it down to one question per post. We'll send Dave 10 of the highest-moderated questions and post his answers as soon as we get them back, after which we're sure many alert readers will have much to add even if they haven't heard about Bennett Haselton's excellent automated Dave Barry column generator.

Comments

OK, A Serious One Now - Copyright

[Snork Asaurus]

My father first put me on to your column in the newspaper and I have been reading it for over 10 years since. One of the things that I feel solidified my fandom (and persuaded me to purchase several of your books in the last 6-7 years) was finding and reading copies of your old columns on web sites and in newsgroups. 7 or 8 years ago, they were very easy to find.

Recently, I looked for a specific old column to forward to a potential future fan (who had an experience that you wrote about) and discovered that is now almost impossible to find your older works on the 'net. It looks like someone has been pursuing the copyright issue. I could therefore only vaguely describe the column to him and a potential convert may have been lost.

So, in light of that and all that is going on with respect to the value of intellectual property rights and copyright vs. the marketing potential of having old works freely available, what is your view?