Slashdot Mirror
Proposal: Put Library of Congress' Contents Online
Mark_Uplanguage writes "The idea to scan in all materials available at the U.S. Library of Congress was presented at the Web 2.0 conference this week (as just one of many ideas presented). The proposed cost of $260 million would create a huge benefit to society (well, at least to those who can read English)."
Putting it all online would let people get copies of it for *gasp* FREE.
Who said anything about "free"?
Although this would potentially take dialog about the public domain out of obscurity and into the LoC mainstream, and the LoC does have some influence in the copyright debate. Certainly once the data exists, anywhere, it is going to be harder to make the argument that we should just throw it away, no matter what the reason.
This is a dumb idea. I'm happy to have copies of my books in libraries (I even donate copies to libraries). One book equals one reader at a time. A library has the same rights as you or I have to lend out *the* copy they own - not to reproduce it en masse. Having all my stuff put online (against my will) would damage the value of my content.
I hear lots of arguments from people who don't create content on why it should be free. The only content producers who seem to think it should be free seem to be ones who produce content with limited commercial value.
I'm a relatively succesful independent author. Part of my success is due to the fact that if you want my content, the easiest way to get it is by buying it from me. Take away my control over my content and I'll make less profit, and ultimately produce less content. Read Atlas Shrugged to see what that leads to...