What is your opinion on free contents in Internet?
As you can see in my blog, I share as much as I can. The entertainment business thinks that it’s hurting their revenues, which I don’t think it is.
I think that the content is free, beauty is free and you have to share, despite of your human condition.
This is a very important moment to discuss that because they are threatening to pass laws for forbidding people to share their contents. I like to hear your opinion on this.
Thank you!
Paulo
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well.. foe my opinion i think its really confusing nowadays to be really kind to share thoughts.. especially when you have already successfully made good-quality books..
seems like the publisher owns the writer’s wisdom and sell it for a price.. in which for the conclusion.. the wisdom just disappears..
i for one would like to share my thoughts as well.. and hope that my thoughts would help others through my stories/sharings .. (this idea is formed up in my head with an inspiration from you.. )
a writer is someone who wants to extend feelings, messages, thoughts to everyone in this world.. inspire them and let them make some good realizations in life…
===best things in life are for free,,
Voilá the sound of Christ magyar nyelven:
Happy life, Paulo:-)
http://videa.hu/videok/zene/feke-pal-jezus-krisztus-christ-mtv1-tarsulat-Cg1mbI2BJ8fwLGWW
Free content is a form of sharing. Sharing is a form of caring. Caring? For ourselves and others we come in contact with. Caring keeps us alive and well. Free content is a definite and necessary instrument for caring.
Paulo Coelho, thank you for your many thoughts. Your books are a joy and appreciated.
I think that information should be freely available on the internet. But why should this be the case? To answer that question we have to determine what democracy, liberty and freedom is. Can we live in a free society if information is restricted or only available to a select few. I say no, this is an untenable situation. The world has come too far to go back to the dark ages. I think that we have to evolve with the times, the world order is changing rapidly.
I think that information should be freely available on the internet. But why should this be the case? To answer that question we have to determine what democracy, liberty and freedom is. Can we live in a free society if information is restricted or only available to a select few. I say no, this is an untenable situation. The world has come too far to go back to the dark ages. I think that we have to evolve with the times, the world order is chaging rapidly.
Paulo, te has referido a la “industria” del “entretenimiento” ¿Cómo pueden ir juntas esas dos palabras? me parecen incompatibles, suenan como “Inteligencia militar” o “plastic glass”. El arte (lo digo como creador) no debe tener más intención que la de ser compartido. Entiendo que tiene que haber una compensación, porque no nos alimentamos del divino soplo de las musas y un artista cumple una función en la sociedad tan importante como la de un albañil o un cocinero, no menos, tampoco más (muchos artistas creen que tienen un vinculo con los dioses, no se dan cuenta de que todo el mundo lo tiene). Pero, ¿no puede un albañil construir para alguien gratis y por el placer de hacerlo? ¿se van a unir los albañiles para impedirlo?
Internet proporciona libertad, la de elegir lo que visitas y la de participar (en esto último se diferencia de los otros medios de comunicación). Me niego a que el Gran Hermano también nos diga lo que debemos opinar, compartir o mirar. Parece mentira la mala cesta que el mundo está haciendo con tan buenos mimbres.
As an smaller music artist I need sharing. Record companies and media go on and on about how smaller artists can’t survive as long as there is file sharing. They could not be more wrong. We smaller artists finally have a chance thanks to file sharing.
We don’t get that much money from record sales. We get our money from tours and copyrights when we are played on the radio. Here in Sweden they always talk about lost copyright money for the composers. But selling records hasn’t got anything to do with copyright.
Now Sweden is about to get a new law that makes it possible for record companies and film studios, in fact any one, to hunt file sharers for own profits. Internet suppliers will have to give up a customers name if anyone is asking about an ip-adress.
This scares me and I think it could get ugly. And also record companies would have to finance this hunt with something. So that means less profits for artists in their new contracts.
He leído críticas a cerca de Coelho. Lo cierto es que su forma de contar historias, y la temática en ellas contadas, no dicen mucho. Pero hay algo que está por encima de cualquier valor técnico literario; y eso es lo siguiente: Si una mujer de 47 años que a penas logró estudiar el 2do de primaria, a sus 47 años descubre en el tercer mundo, sometida al machismo, que detras de unas letras simples hay un mundo por descubrir y por vivir; pues si por esa simpleza, se le critica a Paulo, pues que bien. Alguien de los que escribe acá, dígale al señor Coehlo que una mujer de 47 años, viviendo bajo el mas puro machismo, encontró en sus simples palabras una nueva pintura, en donde posar sus sueños y donde hacer andar sus pasos. No hay premio para eso, pues el premio es en si y por si eso mismo
Paulo! First of all – I don’t know why, but I sense a type of sadness from your face on that video (which maybe doesn’t have to be anything about the sharing topic you are talking about). But on the topic: I think it should be open to share Your content, although it should have some kind of a “control”. For example in Estonia we have these ID cards, and also the readers of the ID cards, so that if You put Your ID card in it, You should be able to sign papers with Your own original signature (from the ID card) and do different things that You’d usually have to go to a certain office or service house to do it. So it is a great help for people who for example are in wheelchairs (with moving disabled people). So maybe it would be an idea to legalize to share Your content, but maybe engage it with some kind of an “ID card” so people will know it’s really You that’s doing it… maybe it sounds weird, but in Estonia there are big problems in the online-news sites where people can comment freely on politics and government or anything human or none-human without taking any responsibility to their words and identity (cause you can freely put in a false name etc.). Ok this hasn’t got to do directly about the ‘content sharing’ business… or wait a minute. Our words, and thoughts, and sharing it with others can also be taken as contents… Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, it should be free, but not as free as it is now… so that people wouldn’t hide behind false ID-s. But good theme to discuss about! And Paulo – be happy! It’s Christmas time! The most wonderful time in the year! Hugs!
Monsieur Coelho,
Je vous remercie d’abord pour tout ce que vous faites, vous avez donné une nouvelle configuration au monde de la communication.
Grâce à des personnes animées par un sentiment noble que celui de partager, des personnes voire des peuples démunis de moyens peuvent accéder au savoir.
Des pensées et des intérêts occultes érigés en lois par l’homme veulent encore une fois restreindre l’accès à l’information. Ce n’est pas nouveau la “rétention de l’information”, Internet a bouleversé des pratiques ancestrales, la preuve est là…
A ce titre, je tiens à vous dire que vos textes sont exploités librement dans des classes, des amphithéâtres, des salles de séminaires… J’ai acheté vos livres bien sûr mais j’ai récolté pleines de données sur le Web, j’en ai fait profiter aux étudiants, séminaristes, professeurs,… L’essentiel n’est pas de garder l’information et de la monnayer mais de la partager pour qu’on soit sur la même longueur d’ondes et construire un monde nouveau où il fait bon d’y vivre. Un savoir sans partage n’est d’aucune utilité.
Merci encore pour vos différentes actions qui ne reflètent d’ailleurs que la noblesse de votre quintessence.
Dear Paolo,
What an honor to follow you. You are one of the great minds of this time. LOVE your books.
It is my intention to share as much as I can for free. But I know I cannot expect that from everyone on the net. People are into different things. Some like giving, some like exploiting.
The country I was born in (Iran), have more or less no freedom of speech, so I truly enjoy and endorse the free content on internet. It sometimes amazes me how much we can actually do and get here.
Thank you for bringing up the subject.
I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas.
“beauty is free and you have to share”
It’s a nice thought. Too bad other people aren’t willing to listen to that. If you want to share, it’s your right.
Personally I think it’s great. There are so many things that are exposed now that it is easier to try new things every day.
That’s an inevitable truth.
Paulo, please read your mail from me on: paulocoelho@paulocoelho.com.br
In answer to your question Paulo I would like to share my blog with you and all people who will be interested to read it and leave a comment – http://vpi-pipi.blogspot.com/. I`m sorry for the bad English.
Freedom,
Vivian
Most artists are so hungry for name and fame, that we don’t mind sharing our lives, our knowledge, for whatever it is worth, with the www.
Having said this, I blog for a hobby, I don’t post all my writing stuff that I do for a living. If I did, I wouldn’t have a living.
And now the age is of free knowledge. Nothing is secret anymore, or that is what we like to believe, those of us who are facing a knowledge burn out.
Personally, I think the only mystery left in life is the inner one. ANd for this, there is only one way: in.
I Think there are two levels.
The first is the material level.
To survive you need to work and earn money. The amount of money you want to earn depends on how much you are linked to the material level.
The rules of this level are at the moment the rules of economy.
There is also another level, the spiritual level.
The rules of the spiritual level are not the ones of economy.
So also ideas may be considered under two aspects.
The material aspect may lead yo to make money from your ideas.
This happens for evey intellectual profession, and there’s nothing wrong if you act honestly in your job.
But the spiritual level may be found also in other aspects and they don’t follows the rules of economy.
Think for example about a sunset, a river, the Sun.
They are great shows, and you don’t have to pay for them, cause God offers this shows free.
So give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar, and to God what belongs to God.
Have a nice day, all of you.
Banning it? Dictators.
Kathleen xx
I think this is a “Problem” or “Blessing” of the technology.
Nowadays every content can be shared by the internet in p2p networks, websites, ……….
Sometimes we listen music, see movies, read books for free in the internet. And i always say “If you can read, you can copy” So if you really want to share, lend or provide something that you have, you can do it without so much problems.
Years ago, if i buy a book or a cd, after listen it a couple of times, i can give it to some friedns and so on… But now, if i have an mp3 file, and i share it, whats the difference??
We can distribute unlimited copies of something practically for free in the internet.
I Think it’s a good thing because it can brake the difference of social classes, the difference of education. Projects like wikiversia give education for free for each person who has internet (Pretty much nowadays).
The problem is with restricted content. With author rights. I think authors will have to earn money for the way, not for the goal. I mean, a music can earn money from concerts and not so much from discs and that kind of things. An author from conferences and not so much from books. And so on…
Open source softare for example, usually, give the software for free, and the earn money for support, certification courses and so on… and it’s a model that works in the real life. It’s not only theory.
Actually i was thinking in this for a while and write a couple of posts in my blog. And i always think “Internet and technology is changing the world, the way that we do things, the way we think things. Its time to re-write the rules… it’s time to reinvent the way we live… live in a better way sharing knowledge, and living of knowledge. I think that now its the better time to grown up in knowledge and spirit, its time to share and be brothers again, brake the barriers of distance, time and race the internet give us the opportunity of be anonymous (no matter what color of skin you have or where are you from), and in the same time talk with people all around the world… We can be only humans… again”
Its time to share!
PD: Sorry for the very bad english. I usually write in español.
Regards,
Ricardo
we already know that the “man” is always trying to hold us down.. My advice is to keep doing what we are doing. keep sharing and keep downloading. but remember to stay undercover, out of sight, away from the maddening crowd
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I’m not sure what sort of internet content is being referred to here. If it is content as in books that are also sold, it is those that profit from their sale that suffer with the giving away of the product for free via the internet, not the artist, and it is these people legislation will protect, not the artist.
I believe it is the right of the artist, the author, the creator of the product to decide what he wants to have done with his product. However I aso believe that the publishers etc. also have a right to guarantee themselves an income. So the issue of free content then becomes one of finding a publisher who agrees to free content.
I think all parties to need be given the freedom to decide on these issues. For instance if Paulo wants to publish a book with someone, but also wants to release it on his web site for free, this should be agreed to before hand. If his potential publisher disagrees, he has to find one who does agree, or self fund its publishing, or only release it as free content, or agree with the potential publisher and not have it as free content.
As for other forms of free content on the internet, as in blogging etc. I can’t imagine how it could be done. The internet is an avenue of freedom of speech, just as protests are,just as letter writing, emails and text messages are. Legisation against this type of free content would go against the democratic freedom of speech.
Of course, it is up to you! If you want to sell your work or give it away for free. Isn’t it a restriction on the freedom of speech to prevent you from saying (writing) what you want, and telling it to as may people as you want to.
If the corporate world can establish legislation that makes sharing illegal, then corporations can maintain a stranglehold on our daily lives. Some things should be copyrighted and protected, if the author of that thing decides to do so. Other things should be freely available, if the author of that thing decides to gift the world with it. It should be up to the author of that created thing.
And when thinking of created things, it is appropriate to remember that no human being created something without the help of their society. If they used langauge and cultural forms to create that thing (and what creation does not rely on those?), then doesn’t some of the benefit afforded by that thing belong to the society which fostered the creation?
I create stuff and never worry about it. My husband has a fit: “How can you be so free with this information?” My reply is that I could give the average person every bit of it, and they would never be able to use it, because they don’t know how. Anyone wise enough to be able to use my stuff will also be wise enough to give me credit. My stuff has an ethical component. Not to understand the ethical component = not understanding my stuff. Could it be wrongly used? Yes, of course. Would charging for use of my stuff prevent wrong use? Nope.
Thank you for asking this question.
I think the more you give the more you get. The more you are giving and sharing the more people will be attracted to you. Who doesnt love people that share?
This is just a new way of doing business that the old timers are not familiar with. It is change and they fear it.
We are embracing it.
FREE ?! NOT SURE
see “Why Monetize Twitter ?” : http://kynamdoan.com
(twitter is like facebook , myspace , chat to share )
Well said sir. I truly admire.
Internet is fantastic, I have the opportunity to speak with my favourite writer and tell my feelings, but could also be a dangerous instrument…..long time ago a doctor told that my mother, who at the time continued to fall, took a very rare disease called PSP, and noone knows the disease…..noone except INTERNET so in a click I discovered the calvario http://www.psp.org …..that was awful….my mum died two months ago after suffering a lot (5 years) and I still remember where when I press that button ……
Buonjour Mr. Coelho,
je m’appelle Stefano Arici et j’habite en Italie.
Je voudrais vous faire une demande:
Où se trove le bonheur?
excusez moi si je suis direct mais j’en ai besoin.
merci
Stefano
Dear Paulo,
Free Content is the biggest question now a days. As I have read the previous comments in your blog it appears to my knowledge that, there are multiple views on free contents.
Some of the authors have pointed out that, free content is good and some says, it is bad. Some has a great idea on how technology has transferred over the period of time.
The matter of choice should be given to humans and only humans alone. The choice of either using the computer and reading the content for free or visiting the book store and buying a book is different all together.
As a author, only thing that comes in your mind is you have a very good idea and this has to come out in public. People should be aware of what is going around and what is happening around the world also how your idea is really related and how you can benefit from your “best ideas”. At the point of writing you are not thinking about marketing or collecting big revenues or even dreaming to win a Nobel Prize for your work.
The path that I am traveling has been traveled by somebody else. There are millions and billions of humans in the world. Those who are currently alive and those who are no longer. Whatever I am doing has been done already. I am constantly thinking that I am doing something new but I also have to realize that what “I” as the person am doing has already been done or is being done somewhere in some part of the world.
Well, Although technology in every day life cannot be ignored and one has to benefit from the usage of the technology. It is always a good idea to use the technology and benefit from the advantage of it. After all this is for us.
The generation that are is evolving is most of the times posting the content on the internet- let us say for example “technorati” where there are millions of contents posted every day.These blog posts and articles have thousand of great ideas but how are they really making any point? Will they really reach to the right people at right time?
To have a greater impact and greater socialization of “your ideas” it has to be used efficiently, in a proper manner.
We do not know how to make benefit or money from our work but, “Giving is the best thing we know as the writer.”
It is good idea to deliver the content for free but at the same time it is bad idea to really give everything for free.
Well, I do not agree that “beauty is free”. Beauty cannot be free simply because it is in the nature. Simplicity of the beauty is free but beauty does not lies in being free. Let me give you one example.
Let us say, you see the flower. You see this flower which is red and your personal favorite color is also red but some how you have a color blindness and you cannot see the color red. One of your very best friends come near to you and she says, Wow what a beautiful color and flower. You cannot see the particular flower but you still admire with the beauty.
Imagine now you do not have color blindness and you can see the flower. In this situation, you will see the red flower, you appreciate the beauty of that flower but you cannot have it. It is not free. It has its own life. It is an object which lives on its own. The life cycle of this beautiful red flower is with the Nature.
Similar analogy holds true with the “free content”. The content and ideas are just floating around us all the time. The matter of choice for picking up “whose” idea could be trusted depends upon the humans all around the world.
Selection should be given to people either to use free or not. However, free does not makes the content valuable and not free does not make ideas famous.
–Author of the book “Nature God”.
–http://www.kalwar.com.np
where nice to know that u are tru. I am in you network at facebook, and have thought about all ur questions and answears. young people dont read anymore, so short films in youtube is great. I think you are a great mentor for the world :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVUaUofIE1Q
astrology, filosfy is connected but i dont unerstand yet. we are both virigo and i got feeling from libra….yesterday.
the west world is built on 10-number system, witch is wrong, we know siense know. look at finace crises and none problems in naturerich countries in africa and south america. they need peace and they will rule if they are thru… sharing thoughts on internet is great, no rules, no govement, free toughts…
sry about my writing, not used to think in english yet…
Dear Paulo
Of course the content of the Internet should be free.
Any content; be it of artistic nature, scientific, industrial, economic, civil, national, international, private, or part of the public domain, all of it should be freely available to all of us.
The Internet should belong to the World Community.
All the knowledge accumulated on the Internet should be shared by all the people directly if possible or with the help of the rest of us privileged enough to own a computer.
The ones who want to regulate the Internet; are the ones who want purely and simply, the POWER to CONTROL it.
Once on the NET, all the knowledge should belong to us all.
In Dictatorships and Communist countries, the access to the Internet is strictly controlled or even forbidden by Law
In the World of the Multinationals, there is a tendency to establish on commercial bases a Politico-Economical ”Big Brother” environment able to brainw3ash, influence, manipulate, exploit and rip us off in the name of financial gains and of the most exorbitant profits.
As early as 1989, Sabine Kurjo was writing in her book ”Only Connect” about the Art and Technology of Networking for Personal and Global Transformation
Knowledge is POWER
The Internet has the power to educate, to develop, to open our minds and to keep us together despite color, race, status or religious backgrounds.
Providing that we could get free it, the Internet should remain ours, should not be hijacked by business and should most definitely
stay FREE
Dear Paulo,
Free contents should not be baned from internet. I think nobody can stop me to give it for free. There are so many producers to choose, so if one does not want the other one will do it, if no editor will accept that condition I’ll be my own editor…
Just do not give up, I know you will not, as I think that free contents on internet can not damage revenue, it can only make grow more interest.
It is like forbiding your books enter libraries!!!!
There is no end to stupidity and shortsight, as profit is blinding isn’t it !?!?
Love
Luce
I love to read your free content in the pc,and also have books,they give me different feelings,read online when I am burning in questions and in searching some new inspirations,also the books on the shelf are more symbolised themselve to me,they are certain memory of my life,seeing them there like old good warm friend make me feel secure,and I know similar moment of my life can be solved by a good book,of course!
Primeiro foi o telefone, depois veio o rádio, logo em seguida a televisão, e atualmente temos a Internet; o meio de comunicação que informa, encanta, facilita e agiliza a comunicação entre as pessoas.
É fantástico colocar uma mensagem na Internet e no mesmo instante, pessoas de todos os cantos do planeta estarem compartilhando de suas idéias.
Com certeza o mundo não sera o mesmo depois da Internet. Além da farta informação sobre qualquer assunto a disposição de um simples “click”, temos também a facilidade do relacionamento entre as pessoas de todas as partes do mundo. O resultado é uma troca de cultura, valôres, conceitos, enfim, uma maior compreensão entre as pessoas de vários países e raças; o que é extremamente positivo.
Quanto ao conteúdo livre e gratuito, creio que deve ser totalmente da vontade do autor e nunca de nenhum órgão regulador da Internet. Se o autor achar que deve ser renumerado pela informação ou serviços prestados, é um direito que lhe cabe. E é o mercado que vai determinar o valor de sua renumeração. Caso contrário, como é a atitude adotada por Paulo Coelho; nós leitores, agradecemos pela sua generosidade.
The internet permits the human mind to expand in ways that were not widely understood or possible before. It is a tool that frames possibilities and enables people to take control of raising their own awareness. The internet is a friendly reminder each human being has answers at his or her fingertips. It is a matter of evolving to ask the right questions and being attuned enough to hear answers.
sido66 on twitter : “when the private would be public” A great opportunity and chance to share on the net:freedom of expression -http://ff.im/k460 by R. Reeve
Querido Paulo Coelho…acredito que o conteúdo da internet deve continuar sendo livre, afinal de contas a liberdade de expressão nunca foi o problema, e sim, a solução.
A verdadeira questão a ser solucionada é a evolução moral e espiritual do homem, que aos poucos deixará de lado a maior parte de suas questões pessoais e passará a se preocupar verdadeiramente com os problemas do mundo e com o seu próximo.
Um grande abraço e tenha uma semana iluminada.
as you said you want to share,this is your freedom to share,so you must to stay free to share.thanks a lot for your great job!
Free content for web is as essential as freedom itself.Free content is not just a symbol of the generosity of the content creator but also a beginning of a human network of trust.Piracy emerged due to excessive restrictions and high prices especially in developing and underdeveloped countries.I’m myself a linux and free software user and I know that freedom of content is truly essential for everyone.Great going Paulo Coelho you’re the best !
Free content in internet : interviews on the web08 .dec 11th( “i love the web because” …freedom to share)
Click on the link to see the interviews :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0t7HfKEyYc&eurl=http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=fr&langpair=en%7Cfr&u=http://blog.dailytwitter.com/&client=tmpg&usgiurl=http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/J0t7HfKEyYc/hqdefault.jpg&feature=player_embedded
Contenu gratuit sur internet : interviews au web08 le 11décembre 2008 (dec” j’aime le web parceque “….la liberté de partager sur le web)
clique sur le lien pour voir les interviews :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0t7HfKEyYc&eurl=http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=fr&langpair=en%7Cfr&u=http://blog.dailytwitter.com/&client=tmpg&usgiurl=http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/J0t7HfKEyYc/hqdefault.jpg&feature=player_embedded
Caro Paulo:
La informacion ha sido poder desde todos los tiempos e ironicamente ahora se tiene que luchar para que los congresos aprueben leyes de libre acceso a la informacion y no solo eso tambien debemos estar atentos para que no derogen aquellas leyes ya aprobadas o peor aun para que no aprueben nuevas leyes que anulen las ya existentes.
Considero que lo unico que ha cambiado con el tiempo son los medios, las maravillas de la tecnologia y como estas nos permiten ahora comunicarnos como nunca antes pudimos hacerlo. Sin embargo la esencia no cambia y mientras hayamos personas que encontremos impresindible compartir conocimientos y crecer, habran otras para quienes ese libre compartir solo signifique dejar de percibir ganancias monetarias y/o perder algo de poder.
Lo bueno de todo ello es que siempre habremos personas dispustas a compartir y sin miedo de vivir, gracias por ser una de ellas y por inspirar a muchas mas a ser como vos.
Eternamente obrigada Paulo.
Hi Paulo and Everyone,
This question challenges the whole paradigm of intellectual property, ownership and freedom for all. It has two parts to it; the basic human right of freedom of speech and the right of people to assert copyright.
This question is close to my heart right now as I am busy seeking permissions for including copyrighted materials into my book. It takes a lot more time than I thought.
In a sense any legislation against people sharing their own thoughts, poetry, art etc. for free, is a retrogressive step. There must be choice.
The internet allows anyone with the capacity to register at my space or to set up their own web page a fundamental freedom of human expression that has not been available until now. It is fantastic and this freedom is supported in the universal declaration of human rights Article 19 at:
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html.
Those perhaps struggling to make a living through their creativity have a moral right to exert copyright and expect some financial reward. Bread after all does need to be bought. Those who are more fortunate have more choices. It is all part of a journey.
There comes a time when something becomes “public domain” and then it seems a little like closing the door after the horse has bolted to insist upon the payment of royalties etc. Here it could be straying into the realms of greed.
In terms of patent law people can claim ownership of intellectual property for a fixed time so that they can gain from it, hence encouraging invention and creativity. After that anyone can use the ideas.
Everyone should have the choice to offer what they say for free; there sometimes is purpose behind charging for something. In a sense it is putting monetary value on one’s creativity and that can enhance self worth. Sometimes there is a purpose behind not charging; for example the wider spreading of a message.
The flip side on completely free content is summed up by the attitude, “the world owes me a living”, “please give it to me for nothing!” Sometimes we simply have to earn a living and pay for what we use.
The simple sharing of a single poem or a book with a friend does not stray into this. This is an act of brotherhood and of love.
What worries me the most is the idea of plagiarism. Where someone takes anothers work and passes it off as his or her own. This phenomenon is growing increasingly. It is a lazy, let us take a short cut way, to making oneself look big.
If one is realistic then the simple act of publishing something to the web is actually inviting that content to be shared either by links or cut and paste. People aren’t really that blind and naïve are they? One cannot have one’s cake and eat it!
Going a little deeper still:
How can one possibly own a word?
How can one possibly own a sentence?
It makes no sense, yet in writing a book we are sharing a journey and entertaining. In the days of the strictly oral traditions the story teller was always paid or fed for their services.
With love in this season of good will,
Alan
Paulo , IMO we should share all the content freely on the internet .
no way… you no longer have the joy and the responsibility of taking care of the books you buy… just reading for free on internet does not have the same joy..
personally.. i love my books, i love reading them, smelling the fresh air of a new book just printed… :)
The internet [because it's digital] is a copy machine. I agree with this words from Kevin Kelly. Those copies, we already know, flow like the river, from here, there, everywhere: text, images, sounds… if it can be copied, certainly, it will.
But if digital files can be downloaded, copied, cloned, mixed, other features can not, and when anyone buys a version of something they could get for free, he/she is purchasing these features: Authenticity, Personalization, Interpretation, Patronage are some of them.
These are some of the reasons why people continue buying [more and more] Paulo Coelho’s books even these books can be found “free” on the internet.
Does it make sense?
Regards,
Claudio Soares
http://www.twitter.com/pontolit
Hola Paulo,
Not sure if this is about intellectual property rights or the right to share “our thoughts” with whomever we choose?
If an individual creates “a work” then surely he/she is the “owner” of that “work” to do with it what he/she chooses?
Be it share it for free, or sell it for financial gain?
My thoughts are “what to do”? when your creativity becomes popular and demand for it grows? hypothetical of course,but how much of your “talent” free?,who pays the bills?
That aside, I share my (poor) poems with whoever as the time or inclination to read them….
I believe that if you can lend a CD or a book to your friend in real life…..
Then you should be able to do so over the internet.
Without it being illegal.
Of course though I believe we should protect the rights of the authors of the content. Because some are too rich but some are poor.
I consider free content as a ‘pay-it-forward’ movement.. We share something so other people can share more to more people.. So many people able to gain more to give more..
And for “they are threatening to pass laws for forbidding people to share their contents”, I don’t get it.. It is like those people order you to shut your mouth closed when you really should say something.. Ain’t we should be free to express opinion and thought??
Connecting, collaborating and sharing is essential to human evolution. Restraining this in any way shape or form is not only an attempt to monopolize information, it is also a bit totalitarian.
Dear Paulo and Fellow readers,
I think content on the internet should generally be free, absolutely.
However the internet costs money to run, servers, backup, technical people etc. This really became apparent to me recenlty when Wiki started asking for donations, they require $6m a year just to run the servers and do some basic innovation.
I think greed has created a consumer based society where we only value things based on their $£Y value instead of their intrinsic value, which is a far better way to value them.
Say on how happy they will make us, or how much they will improve our standard of living.
I think the entertainment industry have simply lost sight of how they can pay their artists, which are the most important element in the mix. Their need to keep shareholder value and pay their massive support networks (management, marketing, sales, admin etc) is apparent in everything they do; ie trying to protect copyright etc.
Instead I suggest to them to cut down on the infrastructure, and use the internet as a means to an end, rather than an enemy.
Music, Movies, Books, anything that can be freely distributed on the net should all have a simple link to the artist built into it where the user of that content can make a donation to the artist/s in order to show they have received a copy of the works.
This unlike the old days of taping from Radio/Tv or lending a book from someone actually improves distribution of the content and would lead to more “sales” than using old distribution techniques like CDs/DVDs/Books in shops and by mail order.
To sum up content should not be free, as you and I need to eat, however the distribution and way of showing your appreciation should change to reflect the new age.
Sometimes you might like to “barter” your works with another artist, other times you would like to support their lifestyle with a financial donation.
Love and Regards a long time reader
Craig
I heartily applaud Paulo’s habit of making his works freely available online – I only wish that the original Portuguese texts were as accessible as the translations, as mistakes do happen in translation (searchable pdf would be MUCH nicer than the current pdf image files too).
There is nothing wrong in charging a price for intellectual output, but the price should be reasonable and affordable. Paper books are expensive to produce, to ship, and to store. It is a terrible waste that all publications are not made publicly available in digital form, preferably in searchable format. There are many books for which I would be happy to pay extra if a searchable copy of the text on disc were bundled with the hard copy.
What can be more frustrating than to have to search a lengthy book or article page by page for a a snippet of information, when you know that the entire text was composed on a word processor, and already exists in easily searchable form ?
Only two things come to mind, the first is when the work is not available at all, at any price, because the owner of the copyright refuses to release it to the world. And the second is when the owner makes access so expensive that most interested people simply can’t afford it.
We don’t hear much about the first of these situations. I believe the movie rights to The Alchemist is a fairly famous instance. One that most people have never heard of is a book by Immanuel Velikovsky, the author of Worlds in Collision.
The book, “Before the Day Breaks”, a record of the author’s conversations and correspondence with Albert Einstein, was being prepared for publication in 1983, and its imminent release was announced as a footnote in Velikovsky’s posthumously published book Stargazers and Gravediggers (p.287) . However, it was never released by the publisher.
More than a decade later, I learned privately from another admirer of Velikovsky that publication of the book had been blocked by the author’s estate (the text is now available online at http://saturniancosmology.org/files/vel-einstein/).
There are many other instances, often involving far more prominent writers, where the estate has blocked or filtered academic as well as public access to important works and correspondence, usually to manipulate or preserve the public image of the author.
Individual property rights have never been held absolute when weighed against the needs of society. If the building of a dam, a canal, or a roadway requires it, individuals must give up their land, no matter how long they have owned it, or how attached they are to it, and be content with receiving compensation in kind or in cash.
Why should the inheritors of intellectual property be allowed to deny it to all of humanity? Would we allow such private control if the intellectual property were a cure for some terrible disease?
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