Another great institution is being taken down by the copyright terrorists. This one is beyond-belief hilarious/ridiculous/evil because of course we not only own the full rights. We have put the book into Creative Commons and are desperately trying to give the book away to the world.
Observe the insanity!
Dear Ludwig von Mises Institute,
We have removed your document “America’s Great Depression, by Murray Rothbard” because our text matching system determined that it was very similar to a work that has been marked as copyrighted and not permitted on Scribd.Like all automated matching systems, our system is not perfect and occasionally makes mistakes. If you believe that your document is not infringing, please contact us at copyright@scribd.com and we will investigate the matter.
As stated in our terms of use, repeated incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your Scribd.com account and prohibit you from uploading material to Scribd.com in the future. To prevent us from having to take these steps, please delete from scribd.com any material you have uploaded to which you do not own the necessary rights and refrain from uploading any material you are not entitled to upload. For more information about Scribd.com’s copyright policy, please read the Terms of Use located at http://www.scribd.com/terms
Sincerely,
Jason Bentley
Director of Customer Care
jason@scribd.com
I guess this means that the Mises Institute will no longer use Scribd. Who needs this nonsense? And now everyone who ever linked this, embedded it, or sent it to friends is made to look like an idiot, and all the time we wasted getting this on the scribd in the first place is completely wasted.
Oh what a lovely world the copyright police are creating for us! How much better off we are having our own “intellectual property” rammed down our own throats!
{ 25 comments }
In the litigation-happy USofA, scribd having an automat of this kind is basic survival feature on their part. DBs full of inaccurate data are also the norm. I’d hold judgement till what that copyright@scribd.com tells us. As in, they could appologize, update their copyright record for this book, and we’re back in happy times again.
The Scribd message is scary, and it’s obviously wrong as you say. But you scare me, even more, with this big words, like insanity, terrorist, and evil.
I avoid Scribd for technical reasons. I prefer to use simple formats. Pdf is acceptable, but html or plain text is best.
Goodbye, Scribd!!!*
As I said privately:
I apologize for the error made by our automated copyright protection system, and I’ve restored the document. In addition, I’ve flagged the Mises Institute account so that it will not happen again.
It is not ‘incredibly stupid’ at all, however. We are working very hard to protect the rights of hard-working authors against piracy. As the message said, no automated system is perfect, and occasionally mistakes are made. Hopefully you will reconsider your decision to abandon the Scribd platform based on a corrected error.
We’re a small company of 20 people. Please cut us some slack as we work nights and weekends to perfect a system that works for everyone.
I hate Scribd. I agree with Lars. Pdf, html, and plain text are all easier for a lot of us. Good riddance!
Let’s not be too harsh here. As Jason Bentley pointed out they are a small company and are just trying to do right by their contributors and they fixed the problem.
But I agree. PDF is way better. Hey, you guys should get your books done up for the Kindle that Amazon.com sells. That thing is pretty bad ass.
Now I feel bad about the tone of my post. After all, they have been benefactors and it is a wonderful technology. It’s not their fault that the IP police are leaning on them. I think it was this Harry Potter biz that ensnared them. they are just trying to keep their business model alive.
So: public apology. But what about the others who are posting Mises Institute material? We think that is wonderful. But now they will be hit. It has to come from Mises account or it is taken down. No one here has the time to post all that we want posted. We have to rely on others to help.
What happens to those efforts now?
Two sure ways to destroy society: 1) communism/socialism, 2) “intellectual property”
Re “the others”, I’d expect
1. one automated notification from scribd of potential issue
2. one civil request from “the others” to re-check the copyright terms for the free work
3. one timely civil reply from scribd acknowledging and correcting the error
This setup sounds reasonable, especially if it enables scribd to stay clear of nasty IP litigations. So what else could we say here, except for “sorry, scribd, for the misunderstanding, and keep up the good work” ?
Is there a country that doesn’t have copyright?
I wonder….
I must agree with Lars and Anon, simple formats are best. Especially those which are both common and low-tech.
HTML, and even plain text. PDF if it has pictures. That’s one of the reasons I like gutenberg.org Project Gutenberg so much.
And while it’s not vogue to talk about wasted space, plain text and plain HTML take up very little space, and lend themselves to compression with wonderful results.
Outsider here but love the philosophy as I learn more of libertarian views. I could easily go anarchy, but will settle for the constitution.
One thing that always bothers me in these situations as an employer and when they happen, or when I am not using my boss hat.
That is if simpler platform would have been better. Why was it not chosen in the first place? Or why did I hire them in the first place?
A move away now would be punishment no matter why you leave. Putting your motives in question now or when you chose them.
Yes, freedom is a great thing, but with it comes moral responsibility to do right. Best to you as you decide.
i don’t see what’s clunky about scribd. the “download” tab allows pdf format.
shooting the messenger, perhaps.
I’ve never used Scribd myself, as I don’t like the format. But I do hope something permanent is worked out in everyone’s favour, since the more we spread the message of Liberty, the better. Hopefully something can be set up between Scribd and Mises.org allowing anyone to post Mises.org works there regardless of account identity.
Regards,
Alex Peak
I’m all for abolishing IP laws, but what happened here is not the fault of Scribd. And even if it is, they’ve corrected their mistake and apologized.
I agree with Sukrit.
I agree with Sukrit.
I say keep using Scribd. If you’re interested in getting the information out in any and every way possible, Scribd is just another avenue. I think they’re great and you should continue.
Clarification Please:
1st question: if Mises has the copyrights to Rothbard’s book, how did someone else copyright it also?
2nd question: The email states that if it was an error on their part you can have it restored to their site. So I don’t understand why a problem with one book necessarily prevents the use of the resource. Is it a time and hassle issue?
It seems to me that Scribd and Mises.org had a simple mixup which appears to be in the process of being worked out. Mistakes happen and I for one appreciate the response from Mr. Bentley and Mr. Tucker’s reply. I haven’t used Scribd but from the looks of the website it looks like a pretty good organization and Mr. Bentley’s comment makes me feel even better about it.
Down with scribd, those who support IP should not be getting our help, Mises should use other way, don’t know which exactly right now, but IP supporters? Go to hell and copyright it.
It is still ridiculous for us to live in a litigation age, though. Great websites like youtube and now scribd are being ruined by this crap. It is unfair to the extreme and we should never forget that. To the person who said intellectual property is a sure way to destroy the world: spot on.
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scribd.com took may work and gave it to 27,000 people. This was how I supported my family. I am done writing or producing DVDs as over 100,000 were downloaded from theft sites (they sold 10 times what I did in ten years). No one sponsors my work but the public when they buy a book or DVD. The effect of no protection is that talented people have options. Thank you all who believe everyone should work for free. Fifteen years of my life in these efforts was taken from me and now every time I am on the radio or TV the thieves benefit so I am considering end all of my public work.
Dr. Nick Begich
Sadly withdrawing from the fight
I am familiar with your work, glad you have been doing it, and sorry to hear what has happened.
I am simply not giving out information except to family and friends.
The same thing happened to me with many of my uploads to Scribed. You are right. It is ridiculous and a waste of time. I avoid Scribed now.
I fear Youtube has become the same way. They have removed many of my uploaded videos accompanied by similar email notices.
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