The Authors Guild wants $750 per book from Google

Tags

American Authors Guild, Google Books, lawsuit

I’ve been wanting to post about the Sagrada Familia and was hoping today would be the day. Instead, a discussion with my husband has sparked a change of topic.

So, apparently the American Authors Guild’s latest suit against Google Books is demanding $750 per book, for illegal copying and distribution.

This seems absurd to me.

Positions on Piracy

Tags

pracy

image by vectorarts.net under a (cc) license (attribution 3.0; share alike 3)

Since learning that my book got pirated (it’s since been taken down, at my request), I’ve had a number of fabulous conversations with people about this issue. The question of the rights and wrongs of piracy is both fascinating and profoundly relevant to creators seeking to get their work “out there” in the digital environment.

So, I thought I’d do a follow up post, summarizing the positions and issues (and thereby add my voice to the multitudes on this topic).

the problem

Digital is a mixed blessing. Free distribution means that indie creators:

1. no longer have the expense of a per-unit cost for producing their works; and
2. no longer need to rely on the supply chains and distribution channels that they previously needed to get their work “out there.”

It’s all basically free. Which means that those bent on piracy have the same ease of no-cost reproducibility and distribution as do the creators.

People I’ve chatted with–both online and in person–have tended towards either one or the other of two general positions (with lots of grey in between as well, of course): what I’ll call the legal or principles-based position, and the functional or outcomes-based position. I should note, briefly, that the names are meant to be descriptive rather than value-based (in case that’s not obvious!). Also: Most of these folks are creators, or are sympathetic to creators, so their views are in the context of whether or not a creator should exercise his or her rights.

I Just Got Pirated. Now What?

I've redacted the person's username, under "about the author", because as far as I'm concerned, this isn't about demonizing an individual. It's about a larger issue.

In the open seas of Digital Media and the ability to self-publish, there are dangers–shoals, shallows, and hazards around the low barrier to entry. And then, there are pirates.

What would/do you do when you learn your work has been pirated?

(And yes, I’m actually asking and want to know what you think. This article isn’t a “how to deal with pirates” piece. I don’t know how. I want to hear your thoughts.)

The Background

I suspect most writers/creators out there have similar stories of hard work, scarce time, and writing/editing squeezed in whenever possible, over the long haul–4 years, in my case. This is mine:

Dr. Wu’s* The Master Switch

I first learned about this book when I got the news that Tim Wu was going to be coming to the school to do a talk on it.** It’s a really engaging read. He sets the scenes well and pulls the reader in, while still advancing his larger point.

Which is basically that with the introduction of any new technology–and the disruption of the old models of monetizing whatever previous technology or methods are being displaced by the new innovations–there’s a period of openness. Experimentation prevails. There is a flourishing of creativity and of different models, different voices and so on. People can set up backyard equivalents of the new technology and put out their services or creations and reach some audience.

And then, things start to close down. The public, initially enamoured of the wide selection and the plurality of voices, starts to get drawn to something that is more mediated–and therefore of more consistent quality. And so, the entrepreneurs who manage create a model that mediates and distributes most effectively while using the new technology will prevail.

Copyright in the Digital World Part III: The Experiment

So ultimately, if us creatives want to figure out what will work and what won’t, we need to start figuring out what the actual state of the culture is out there. Of course, that’s difficult, given that culture is elusive, constantly shifting, and therefore difficult to pin down.

But, we’ve got to start somewhere. So, I’ve decided to try something. This idea is in part inspired by the old storyteller model. The storyteller would tell his tale and those who liked it would pay, based on what they could afford and based on how much they liked the stories told.

Basically, I want to see if we actually do value writers, and their creations. I will do this by offering one of my novels–a Regency Romance (think Jane Austen, but without the zombies) called An Immodest Proposal. It’s a drawing room comedy of manners.

Copyright in the Digital World Part I: The Challenge

Here in Canada, there is a great deal of discussion about (c)–copyright–reform. But there’s a problem. Where before, the process of copying was limited by technology, these days, you can copy with the right click of a mouse. You can then disseminate the work to a vast number of people with a few more clicks.

From what I can tell, in order to get a functional legal regime in place, you have to strike the right balance between culture and law. Right now, the two are widely divergent. We have laws that say: don’t copy. It’s illegal. It’s not your right.

And we have a culture–and supporting technology–that makes it absurdly easy to copy and ridiculously difficult to catch infringers and enforce any restrictions on copying, without raising privacy and security issues (e.g. once there’s a gap created to monitor copying, others can also exploit said gaps).

So, why are we so big on protecting the right to copy? There are a lot of stakeholders in the current regime–people who have business models built around protecting the right to copy. And that right goes back a bit.