…to conclude this summer’s blog about the Creative Commons, a sampling of those on the other side of the fence. Of course, not everyone believes that the kind of reform folks involved with the CC wish to bring about is in the best interests of readers and writers. One of the most impassioned defenses of copyright and challenges to the CC was written by Mark Helprin (who has written a number of novels and several collections of short stories), and was published in the form of a book titled Digital Barbarism: A Writer’s Manifesto. Helprin states his book is “..an affirmation of human nature versus that of the machine, via a defense of copyright, the rights of authorship, and the indispenability of the individual voice.” (xii) The “rights of authorship” for Helprin boil down to truth: The rights of authorship, the most effective guarantor of which is copyright, protect fact from casual manipulation; slow the rush to judgment; fix responsibility; encourage conscience in assertion and deliberation; and protect the authority of the individual voice, without which we are little more than nicely yoked oxen. (66) Helprin doesn’t say “maybe,” and this is a well written book very much worth the time in a serious contemplation of the Creative Commons.
Vacation is now upon Odyssey Online, so look for the posts to cease for a little while…back in mid-August with blogging on the full spectrum of stuff that catches our attention here…