Things I Know I Know

Ok, fine, I don't hate him. I don't even know him. But, hey, it doesn't seem to stop anyone else.

I haven't read all of what Cory's written or spoken about (but I've read more than one paragraph from one interview, you betcha), but I am excited and interested in some of the things he's doing, including the ways in which he's distributed his science fiction writings. Here, though, is some of what I've been hearing whenever online fiction and filesharing and copyright and Cory come up (liberally paraphrased, I'm sure sometimes unfairly, by me):

--He can't change copyright because I don't want him to--

Well, you know, hurray. I'm not going to interpret Cory for the masses because--see above--I don't know him and besides he's a writer so he ought to be able to interpret himself. But it would be a big surprise to me if Cory or Lawrence Lessig or the EFF want to get rid of copyright. And if they do then ha, ha, ha, the joke's on them because copyright's not going anywhere.

Cory's thinking is out there--all over the place in fact. If I wanted to know what Cory was thinking and/or advocating about copyright and its future I'd read what he's saying--and more of it than just one scare quote from an interview that someone's brought up to prove that Cory is a great big stupid and I hate him.

And, by the way, if someone can show me where Cory says I hates me some copyright and I want to kill it dead, dead, dead, please point me to it.

--Don't take copyright away from me--

Well, then don't take it away from me either. In case no one's noticed, copyright is being extended and extended. Works that would have gone into the public domain are not. In fact no new works will go into the public domain for the next several years. The RIAA is suing 12 year old girls and elderly women who've never owned computers. Assaults are being made on our rights of first sale, on fair use, on our ability to use things we've legally purchased.

Do I want writers to be paid for their work? Yes, absolutely. I'm a writer. I like getting paid. Do I want to live in a world where ideas are only available to those who can pay for them. No, no, no. Democracy and civil society do not survive without a free exchange of ideas. I want copyright to live up to its promise--to promote innovation and serve society. Protection of intellectual property promotes innovation. Limited time serves society.

--I like how I'm making a living now (writing stuff). I don't want to self-promote or teach classes or give talks to people.--

First of all, lucky you, to make a living writing. Second, the world changes, you know. New people find new ways to make it work. I want to have a job tomorrow morning when I wake up, but it might not happen. I want my dogs to live forever. I want lots of things to stay the same and they never do.

When I hear writers saying--I made it in the world as it existed twenty years ago or I had a spouse working a regular job with benefits or I already have a built-in audience so don't you mess with my status quo. I want to say at least three things:

--The RIAA and the MPAA are messing with the status quo in ways that hurt everyone (and will ultimately hurt even them)
--You don't want Cory (or whoever) to mess with your ability to make a living? Well, who died and made you the only writers who count?
--You know, I probably want your life too--so just dismiss me as jealous--but what was so twenty years ago is not so today and pretending that it is (or hating Cory for it) doesn't change anything or put us back to the way things were.

What I am much more concerned about than the far-fetched idea that Cory Doctorow will kill us all by doing away with copyright forever, are the following:

--as a reader, I want to read things. I want to be treated as if I am an honest, responsible person, which I am and I don't want to have to waste excessive time getting access to stuff I purchased or have to prove that I'm an honest human being who pays for things.
--as a writer, I want to be published and I want to be read. I want my works to have the best opportunity to find an audience in a world that's overflowing with information
--as a creator, I want to be able to do what William Shakespeare and Edna St. Vincent Millay and Georgia O'Keeffe and every other great artist and creator--build off the creative zeitgeist and add to the collective understanding of the world.

Do I want to be paid for what I write--you betch 'um, Red Ryder!

Do I want copyright to protect my work from exploitive bastards trying to make money off my work? Absolutely.

Do I want people I don't know, fifty years after I'm dead, to be making money off work that I did? Not so much.

Do I want my work lost fifty years after I'm dead because--see above--people I don't know and who never did anything for me have control over my stuff? No

Do I have the answer to filesharing and broadband access and digitization and income streams and how writers will make a living next week or next year or fifty years from now? No, I don't. I wish I did because I would so be a lot richer than I am now. But I do think ways that work now ought to be encouraged and investigated and Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi and a bunch of other people are busily exploring ways that work now and we ought to be paying close attention and learning everything we can.

Maybe I can't have everything I want. Maybe I live in a little rose-colored world of idealism and misinformation. But I think very strongly that any time writers set up readers as the adversary that writers lose.

And, BTW, 'Search Inside' at Amazon has absolutely led me to buy books and, equally important, not buy books that wouldn't let me look before buying.