RE: A thought about H.R. 2281 - Anti circumvention

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

From: Rick Anderson <rick_anderson@uncg.edu>
Reply-To: rick_anderson@uncg.edu
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: RE: A thought about H.R. 2281 - Anti circumvention


Laurel says:

> Imagine if all information were "rented" in this way and never purchased
> outright. 

But buying a physical book even now doesn't constitute purchase of the
information, does it?  Isn't the content of the book still owned and
(theoretically, at least) controlled by the copyright owner?  What you,
the book buyer, are purchasing is control of a physical representation of
that information, and you have the right to do some things with that
*physical item* (like give it away) but not to do whatever you wish with
the *information* (like photocopy all of it).  At least, that's my
understanding -- I'm still quite new at this copyright stuff. 

> The first-sale doctrine which enables the used book market,
> sharing of books between friends and family, and donations of books to
> libraries would be moot.  

Aren't all of the above pretty much moot in the digital environment,
anyway?  And I think it's protection of digitally encoded information that
is really at issue with H.R. 2281.  Maybe I'd better check the language
again...

> Uee of resources in libraries would be tracked
> in detail by the publishers enabling a per-use fee structure. 

Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine publishers ever having the resources
necessary to monitor every use of all of their resources by every patron
in every library.  (More controversially: what's the matter with charging
per-use fees?  Isn't that how RLIN charges for access to its information,
Laurel? ;-)  ) 

> Or the
> library patron number 3 would be out of luck because the library only paid
> for "two reads" of the book she wanted to look at.  Archiving would be
> impossible (or extremely expensive). 

Philosophically, is that much different from the current situation, where
library patron number 3 is out of luck because the library only paid for
two copies of the new Tom Clancy novel and there's a ten-name waiting list
on each copy?  Seems to me that in both cases we're talking about demand
outstripping budget, and that's an eternal problem that no legislation
will fix. 

----------------------
Rick Anderson
Head Acquisitions Librarian
Jackson Library
UNC Greensboro
1000 Spring Garden St.
Greensboro, NC 27402-6175
PH (336) 334-5281
FX (336) 334-5399
rick_anderson@uncg.edu
http://www.uncg.edu/~r_anders

"A wise man knows that all gold is fool's gold.
The irony is that such knowledge rarely comes
cheap."
                    -- Anon.