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Source link: http://blog.mises.org/10251/books-free-and-unfree/

Books, Free and Unfree

July 9, 2009 by

The Stanford Renewal Database has done what the U.S. Copyright Office could somehow not do: it has produced a database of copyright renewals so that people can know what is available to post and what is not available. I’m going through older books and habitually creating two stacks. For those not renewed, free for the world, to be become part of the global family of open knowledge via Mises.org. For those renewed, unfree, locked in a cage, imprisoned to exist only in physical form, kept out of the global knowledge database. Often those people who renewed these books meant well, surely; and those who returned runaway slaves were also under the impression that they were doing the right thing.

{ 9 comments }

Creped Choosader July 9, 2009 at 2:32 pm

With this database it should now be a fairly easy job for mises.org and its readers and unaffiliated supporters to re-publish worthy materials.

Non-copyrighted – mises.org
Copyrighted – torrent

And so on.

Russ July 9, 2009 at 3:29 pm

What is the status of Helmut Schoeck’s “Envy”? That would be a nice one to add to my ebook collection.

Scott Grizzard July 9, 2009 at 3:45 pm

Great! I am glad to see Mises.org putting more and more of these resources on-line!

Just out of curiosity, what would it take to acquire all of those wonderful books that Routledge has censored through price? Holcombe’s book is wonderful, but it carries a $150+ price tag.

Silas Barta July 9, 2009 at 4:20 pm

I’m going to do the same for bank account numbers.

x. trapnel July 9, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Not only torrents — check out gigapedia for a *very* nice collection of unlicensed ebooks, with tons of academic texts. They have over 350k now, I believe – comparable to the Kindle catalog. Arr!

Rafael Hotz July 9, 2009 at 4:39 pm

Disrespect this copyright stuff… I’ve been scanning books in the last year and posting on my blog, and most of them are not availible at mises.org…

Once the material goes on the web there’s no coming back, there’s nothing to be afraid of… If Jeffrey Tucker can get in trouble with the pigs for doing it and publishing here at LVMI.org, you won’t be disturbed by doing it at your home and uploading at some free server…

Scan and upload books now! Promote sound economics and libertarianism… And them share it with us!

hz July 9, 2009 at 4:45 pm

hmmm… so WAW’s _Contours of American History_ and _Tragedy of American Diplomacy_ weren’t renewed (not in database)?

interesting.

Philip July 9, 2009 at 6:07 pm

Jeffrey Tucker,

Have you ever looked into the status of Elie Halévy’s “The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism”? It’s about the history of utilitarianism rather than economics per se, but it seems well within the range of what the Mises Institute covers, and it’s all but unobtainable now. (Incidentally, Rothbard cited it in his History of Economic Thought.)

I’m not sure, but it looks like the first English edition may have appeared in 1928.

Michael Calderon July 10, 2009 at 9:31 am

Jeffrey, there is also a good deal of information (downloadable) in this site:
http://www.archive.org/index.php

Although you probably already know that!

For instance, I found there Hayek’s Counterrevolution of Science.

Best

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