I agree entirely with John Lederer's "radical thesis" that copyright, as we know it today, cannot be applied to networked intellectual property. I consider that thesis not "radical" but a very reasonable one once you understand how computers and networks function.
We don't know what the actual solution is to protecting IP in this new environment, but the proposed changes to the copyright law have the potential to be a hinderance to the development of a workable solution. Those changes can essentially put the brakes on experimentation in this area.
However, I want to disagree slightly with another statement of John's - that the cost of printed materials today are primarily production and distribution. I have heard figures (I wish I had hard data, but don't, sorry) that the actual printing/binding cost for a hard-bound book is about $2.50. The majority of the cost is actually editorial. I don't know what proportion is distribution & advertising.
Mass production is amazingly efficient. Cheap, mass market paperbacks can apparently be turned out for $.50-$1.00 each. The elimination of printing alone isn't going to save us much money. The elimination of editors is what we've got on the Internet today, and that has given many of us new respect for the work of editors and publishers. It's hard to imagine that we will have a "mature" online intellectual life without that editorial function, which once again means that there will be someone/something between authors and their audience, and there will be a cost. There will also be costs related to marketing, as products vie for customers. It remains to be seen how much these products will sell for.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:20 GMT