Thursday, February 17, 2011
Would Shakespeare Have Survived Today's Copyright Laws?
Techdirt: "Last year, when author Scott Turow (whose books I actually liked very much) took over as head of the Authors Guild, we noted that his obsession with 'piracy' was misplaced, and probably not in the best interests of the authors he represented. We also posted a compelling response to Turow. Rather than take the time to understand the arguments and the data on this subject, it appears that Turow and the Authors Guild are doubling down on the 'but... but... piracy!' argument, along with a good heaping of 'the government must do something!'
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2 comments:
When I started reading and got to the bit about Shakepeare not surviving today's "piracy," I actually laughed. Shakespeare, as this article points out, could not have survived without piracy. One of the amazing things about Shakespeare's work is that is has an element that is lasting. It isn't the stories, per se, but the humanistic qualities that his dialogue creates. As is often noted, there are said to be 36 plots in the whole of history, and everything is simply a variation. Piracy happens, and it's bad, but sometimes it isn't what I'd call stealing. Knowledge, stories, and themes are fluid, and they take different shapes. (Of course, Shakespeare was often a blatent plagerist of plots.)
I also find the Shakespeare reference pretty funny. What I found most interesting in this article, though, was the bit at the end talking about how young writers would prefer piracy over being unknown, and how the Writers Guild is steering these writers away from them. I completely understand this-part of being a writer is having your works read, and if they are too strictly protected to get out to the masses, where's the payoff? The amount of damage from piracy is probably much less than the cost of not having available works because of copyright. The Writers Guild seems to be taking on such an intense stance on the issue and doing it in such a stand-offish way that I understand why young writers might be distancing themselves from the Guild.
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