![]() We really need to boost our fervour and audacity, to regain courage, to refresh the moral in our fight for fairness and right for access to information, maybe to update our vocabulary with respect to copyright and see it as it is–a right and freedom to copy, not a right to prevent copying. The rhetoric of big business has invaded our arguments and confused the whole issue. We managed some victories there in the 1990s, but on the whole we are losing ground. We are one of the very few groups fighting for the interests of information users (as we always put it). It empowers us to seek solutions and arguments outside this or any other framework that exists. Why should a librarian or an information specialist read it? I think that first of all because it equips one's mind with still another perspective on intellectual property-much more liberating than any other. The text is full of small delights such as application of Latin rhetoric principles to mixed tape making, the puzzle of fake and real fake Louis Vuitton bags, the interpretation of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and many others. I found the characteristic of music especially appropriate with respect to happy experiences of reproduction: music, in particular, appears and disappears fleetingly, conjures the immanent vastness of the Net, constellates into infinite sonic chains, precipitates collective joy, is eminently portable, and resists being turned into a thing or property – which is why folk cultures have such love for it. The whole book is not only philosophical speculation but is merged into the context of human life as we know it here and now. However, the author does not fall into the trap of defining "wrong" and "right", but rather explores the foundations of human existence in the world of varied imitations and copies that give birth to both - the joy of playing different roles and fears of endless flux and change. ![]() However, at the same time I was reading another book by Anne Blair (you can find a review on it in this issue) on how scholars between 15 handled scholarly information, which also proves how recently copying was labelled as a criminal activity. The other contexts are less represented in this respect. He proves that in modern society copying has been demonized as practice, which reduces the value of the original, while at the same time natural pleasures of different human mimetic activities thrive mainly in a variety of subcultures. ![]() The author deals with all possible aspects of copying, sameness, transformation, multiplication - every action that relates to the Latin term of copia - abundance, supply, multiplicity. Thus, the author manages to get away from the usual ideological framework woven around the whole issue by both (or maybe all) sides and nevertheless, put it in a proper perspective. Most probably one of the reasons to enjoy the book was its entirely different approach to the problem using Buddhist philosophy, especially the concept of "emptiness". The more intellectual explanations I read or hear the more irritated I become and the less I agree that it is based on any fair foundation, especially watching what is happening to it at present. This is the area of intellectual property, which I still have problems to understand. regained independence from the Soviet Union. In fact, it deals with an area that has fascinated me for more than twenty years, since my home country, Lithuania. Well, the book is not about information situation at all, on the other hand, it is. Surely, such a recommendation raised my curiosity and to my surprise I have found the book produced under Creative Common licence and freely downloadable on the publisher's site. ![]() I heard about it when my colleague mentioned it as one of the best books on the modern information situation. In praise of copying is his second book, which was presented to the readers in the last autumn. Marcus Boon is "a writer, journalist and Associate Professor in the English Literature department at York University, Toronto" as he himself presents his status in his blog. In fact, I can do this and to some extent did, by providing a direct link to the full text copy above.īut I have to play a role of a reviewer here and not to market the book (which I am doing anyway as all publishers and editors know very well). It left me with desire to copy long quotations (or even the whole book) and paste here for everyone to start reading right away and enjoy its richness, imaginative turns, meditative depth, wit and sensitivity. It is a long time since I read a serious book with such pleasure as In praise of copying. Distributed under Creative Common licence $25.95Īlso access to a digital copy free of charge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. ![]()
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