Cheating Democracy: One Man 70,000 "Votes".

Big Brothers are watching you, and not listening to you. They are swamping your voice, spoofing your voice.

The Trichordist tells a telling story about a "tens-of-thousands-strong" online protest over copyright reform. A rally was organized. Four people --four!!-- showed up, and all of those four people appeared to be counter-protesters who were in favor of copyright reform. The Trichordist wonders what happened to the tens of thousands of anti-copyright enthusiasts. Perhaps they never existed.

Perhaps they were a few individuals who had bought (or who had bought for them) "Full Toolkit" $529 subscriptions to the service that bombards members of parliament (MEPs) or congresspersons or other representatives of the people with up to 75,000 personalized, automated emails.

For an account of how stealthy American and non-human actors meddle in EU politics and legislation, read this guest post translated from the German:
https://thetrichordist.com/2018/08/03/anatomy-of-a-political-hack-guest-post-volker-rieck/

Few in the media speak of Canadian meddling in elections and legislation around the world and in the USA, but apparently Canada meddles. A lot.

One wonders, if technology can write up to 75,000 letters of protest to newspaper editors or to politicians and parliamentary voters with a click, (repeatedly) could this be done with/for book reviews?

Amazon probably has an algorithm for (preventing) that. The Atlantic has an interesting discussion between writers of the pros and cons of the Zon.
https://www.theatlantic.com/letters/archive/2018/08/letters-the-authors-who-love-amazon/566444/

Also from Germany, guardedly good news for rights holders doing business in Germany, as many authors do... if their works are translated. Daniel Hoppe, blogging for the law firm Preu Bohlig and Partner explains that the German Federal Court of Justice has judged that a right holder (who prevails in court, as in the "Dead Island - Riptide" case) must receive reasonable compensation for actual damage, and this must be paid by the actual infringer.
Long link.

Enforcing copyrights anywhere can be expensive.  Whether it is EUR 860.00 for a German lawyer's warning letter, or $800 for expedited copyright registration in the USA (so a copyright owner who needs registration in order to sue and infringer can beat the 3-year statute of limitations to sue at all), copyright enforcement does not favor the individual.

Finally, a long-time Antipodean pen pal, Dr. Bob Rich, is promoting his new book. I'm giving him a shout-out for his blog.
https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1iQ

I especially like the quote from Rich McLean, "Just because we are all doomed does not mean that we can't be nice to one another."

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

Should First Sale Doctrine Apply To Intellectual Property?

Marilynn Byerly has graciously consented to allow me to repost an article she posted on her own "Adventures In Writing" blog in November 2013.

Marilynn's comments are important as the USPTO is about to host a Roundtable on the topic of copyright reform with regard to whether First Sale Doctrine should apply to digital works, and as a group of Berkeley lawyers attempts to start a "grassroots" movement to change (weaken) copyright protections under the law--which I infer is for the benefit of Amazon, Google, libraries, and freetards-- but not for professional authors.

Should eBooks Be Resold Like Used Paper Books?

The Department of Commerce is asking for comments about 
Digital First Sale and the possible changes to copyright law
 that would allow an ebook to be resold.  

Here’s my letter.

The biggest problem with the resale of “used” e-books 
is e-book piracy.  Some think that cheaper books mean less reason to 
pirate books and that’s true to a certain extent, but used e-books also
mean that authors and publishers will no longer be able to prove 
that an online copy has been stolen.

Right now, publishers and authors license their books to specific 
resellers/distributors like Amazon Kindle, BN’s Nook, and Smashwords. 
If a book is available at any other site, the publisher and author know 
instantly that that book is pirated, and they help the authorities take 
these sites down.  

These sites are fairly common, and some look like legitimate 
book-selling sites so the consumer is no wiser that they are buying
 stolen books.  Some of these sites actually sell the books, others 
are scams which steal credit card information and install viruses 
on the victim’s computer.  

If e-books are sold used, the scam sites will be able to fly under 
the legal radar.

Pirate sites will claim that their books are being given away for free 
by legal owners so they can continue their dispersal of illegal copies.  

If e-books are sold used and a site or individual can sell thousands 
of copies  of the same ebook by saying that they are selling one used,
there will be no way  for the author/publisher to prove this.  
This will essentially make book theft a crime that can’t be punished.

Even readers who want to do the right things by buying legally won’t 
be able to tell who is a legitimate reseller and who isn’t.  

Readers looking for bargains will buy illegal books instead of legal 
ones, the profit margin for authors and publishers which is small now 
will plummet to the point that publishing will no longer be profitable
for anyone, and those who make the money will have done nothing
to create books.  

Allowing the sale of used e-books will destroy all value to copyright.

Marilynn Byerly, Author

Thank you, Marilynn Byerly.

My best wishes,

Rowena Cherry

Suggestions From Author X For Copyright Reform

These suggestions are not mine, but I have permission to share them.

1. I have to provide a name, email, address, and phone number with every DMCA I issue to ask for my work to be taken down.

Proposal: Require every site to mandate every uploader provide the same information, publicly available. 

2. I have to prove that my work is mine, by providing where it can be found, the ISBN, and, in some cases, my publisher's information.

Proposal: Have every site mandate that every uploader provide the same information, as well as the same clause I must sign that states I realize I may be subject to the penalties of perjury if I lie. 

3. Require that every "forum" make searches visible to everyone, including links where authors might remove their work. That will make tehparadox.com, viprasys.org, dpgroup.org and other sites easier for authors to search.

4. Require that every site offer an "opt-out" clause to authors. Those who choose to be pirated, under the mistaken assumption it boosts their sales, can be pirated. The rest of us can opt out.

5. Require that every site offer a "three strikes you're out" policy to uploaders. If you've had a DMCA filed against you three times by the same author, you're banned. (That will clue some uploaders in that some authors don't want to be pirated.) 
Go after the uploaders. 

You've got a mixed bag with downloaders, and many of them wouldn't pirate if their ready source dried up. 

Hit the source. Hit the uploaders.  

There should be mandatory steps a site should have to take when copyright infringement is reported: 

removal and warning to uploader, 

removal and blocking uploader account permanently/

reporting uploader to gov't office responsible for it, at which point that office issues a fine. 

Repeated offenses by the same person means loss of ISP, banning of ISP service to that person, more fines, and jail time. 

Make it expensive and uncomfortable to be a pirate, 

and start making parents responsible for their kids, 

internet cafes responsible enough to track what their customers are doing and drop the dime on them for it, etc. Take away the easy paths for pirates to get away with it on someone else's connection.

Take away safe harbor for sites that do not actively enforce copyright, by stated guidelines. 

That includes having a simple system for reporting copyright infringement AND maintaining a database where copyright owners can list all their IP, which the site can and should take action on without constant monitoring by the copyright owner. 

Make it expensive and uncomfortable to be a safe harbor/haven site. 

Start with fines, blocking, removal from search engines...

 As long as they're following the steps, they don't have to worry about it. The minute they don't, it starts with fines. 

After three times where they don't follow the steps properly, they start being blocked and removed from search engines or even have their sites seized, if it continues. Done. 

Of course, any and all of this will really only work well for US persons doing it. The US will have limited success in enforcing this overseas, and some countries overseas will not support this line of thinking.

4. Require that every site offer an "opt-out" clause to authors.

(comment from Rowena... many authors feel that it should be an "OPT-IN" clause)

 Those who choose to be pirated, under the mistaken assumption it boosts their sales, can
be pirated. The rest of us can opt out. 

5. Require that every site offer a "three strikes you're out" policy to uploaders. 

If you've had a DMCA filed against you three times by the same author, you're banned. 

(That will clue some uploaders in that some authors don't want to be pirated.) 

(Comment from Rowena...  some authors feel that "5" should probably require more than one author requesting takedowns, otherwise; the uploader can claim they are being persecuted by someone. Moreover, not every author most hurt by piracy early in their career necessarily has 3 works.)

If you would like to get involved in shaping Copyright Reform,  be aware that the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property is beginning to hold hearings in order to review the Copyright Act. Get in touch with your Representative in Congress to ask him or her to become a member of the Creative Rights Caucus.

Thanks to Author X.


All the best
Rowena Cherry
SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/