Looking Backward at a Forward
The other day a friend forwarded me an article about Intellectual Property by Kevin Kelly that seemed very familiar to me:
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/01/better_than_fre.php
I only just recently figured out why it seemed so familiar when I came across a .pdf copy of Paul’s excellent book “A Lodging of Wayfaring Men” that was being distributed freely online, and realized that it was the version that I had uploaded to the net when I first read it many years ago. At the time I did not know Paul was the author of this book, so I felt the need to write a little forward to the “Electronic Edition” that explained why I felt it was morally correct to distribute someone else’s work.
Paul had originally published the book anonymously, but once I tracked him down, he was forced to either publicly admit authorship or be at the mercy of my constant blackmail demands… ;-)
When I found this online version of the book, I re-read what I had written and found that some of the idea’s in Kevin’s article are quite similar to what I wrote five year’s ago. (Please note that I am not expressing distress that Kevin Kelly in any way infringed on my intellectual property. On the contrary, I do not feel that these ideas belong to anyone and am thrilled that they are being more widely expressed and accepted.) I very much enjoyed what Kevin had to say in his article. I also still agree strongly with what I wrote back then, but I have added to my understanding of the subject. I wll post some of my more recent thoughts on Intellectual Property later - maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, here is my 2003 forward to the First Electronic Edition of ALOWM:
* * *
Forward to the Electronic Edition
by Sean Hastings
I have the honor of being the person to release “A Lodging of Wayfaring Men”
onto the net. I do not know if doing so was legal, nor do I care, because I
know that it is a morally correct thing to do, and that is all that should
matter to myself or anyone else. This is an excellent story about people
working against bad laws for their right to live lives of honor and freedom,
and there is no way that allowing more people a chance to read it can do
anything but enrich every one of us.
Laws in their initial concept are a great idea. The concept being that, if we
write down the behavior that people find unacceptable to the degree that it
will rouse them to violence, then everyone has a better chance of knowing what
is unacceptable, and less violence will result. When used in this way, the law
is just a reflection of an existing moral code that would be enforced even if
it were not written down. The problem begins the moment people start viewing
laws the other way around, and start enforcing rules just because they are
written down. As soon as this change occurs, anyone who gains the power to
write the rules, gains the power to rouse a whole society to violence in an
unjust cause. PJ’s character Maxwell Kaminski points this out in saying that
“Law enforcement is a cheap substitute for justice”. Since all law enforcement
involves the threat of, or actual use of violence, the test of a law should be
the question “Would a reasonable person act violently to prevent another
person from doing this?”
I do not believe that copyright law or any concept of “intellectual property”
passes this test. I think that the men who wrote the First Amendment of the
United States Constitution - “Congress shall make no law… abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press…” got it right. Communication in any form
should never be stifled by legislation. Society should never condone the use
of physical violence either to protect, or to stifle words or ideas. The most
wonderful thing about words and ideas is that they are not property that can
be taken away. In reading and learning, people gain value for themselves
without taking value from anyone else. Moreover, a person can play with words
and ideas, changing them a little or a lot, trying the results, and discarding
the mistakes. Unless some law prevents people from altering an intellectual
construct, it improves over time, providing greater value to everyone. If
there is any such thing as “intellectual property” or “intellectual
territory”, then it can only be rightly defended by intellectual battle, never
by physical force.
I am in no way against having creators be rewarded for their acts of creation,
however, laws supporting a flawed concept such as “intellectual property” are
not required in order for this to happen. I offer the following methods by
which authors of content can still benefit from the act of creation without
asking society to use violence to restrict the replication or alteration of
the content they create. Even with the freedom to freely copy the content an
author creates, people will voluntarily pay the author for the following
things:
*Merchandising - Paying for physical objects branded with the content.
Interestingly, this category includes the physical copies of the content. For
example, in the case of a book, it includes the physical copies of the book,
not just such things as action figures of the characters, and coffee mugs with
quotes on them. Even where bootlegs abound, such items as are authorized by
the creator are always worth more, this difference being a profit the
legitimate author can realize over any competition in production of physical
copies of a work of art.
*Appearances - Paying to see the author performing content live.
This applies quite well to the creation of music, and possibly other fields of
arts. Certainly people will pay more to hear the original creator of a work
perform it, or an authorized production, than a production by any other party.
*Advertisement - Paying so that others know that they helped create content.
While this may be considered “Selling out”, it is a legitimate revenue stream,
and certainly no commercial concern is going to try to generate positive
public sentiment by using an authors works without their endorsement.
*Commission - Paying to have specific content created.
This is work for hire, in which the author shares some part of authorship with
the paying party, exchanging some degree of creative control for payment.
*Patronage - Paying for the knowledge that they help to create future content.
Once an author has demonstrated his or her ability to produce desirable
content, people who have enjoyed that content will be willing to invest money
in order that more of the content they enjoy will be more likely created.
The author of “A Lodging of Wayfaring Men” has chosen to remain anonymous.
This prevents the use of some of the above revenue models, but you can still
purchase physical copies of the book:
[Old publishing and anonymous payment details removed]
I hope this book makes you feel as optimistic about the prospects for
individual liberty as it did me. I hope you too will feel that you should copy
this work widely and in many different formats, and pass it along to your
friends, and neighbors. Read it in good health and learn its lessons. Be the
person you want to be, not the person anyone else wants you to be. Work hard
for something you love, and don’t let anyone else take away the product of
your loving work. Judge what is possible based on what you know to be true,
not what “everyone knows”. And never EVER stop fighting for your freedom.
Sean Hastings
New York City, 2003
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