The LeGuin / Doctorow controversy
Over at BoingBoing, net activist Cory Doctorow has posted an apology to science fiction author Ursula LeGuin for copying one of her stories, without permission, in its entirety(!) and posting it to BoingBoing, even though he could have easily linked to a legitimate online copy instead. Moreover, he decided to not permit BoingBoing readers to post comments on that blog entry. As a result, a couple of other Boingboing articles are getting hijacked by boingboingers wanting to dicuss the controversy.
I've invited them here to continue the discussion without further hijack, as I think this is an important issue that needs to be discussed. (For that matter, the hijacked articles also involve important issues that need to be discussed- hence my desire to provide a safety valve for the hijacking.)
For the moment, I've turned off comment moderation, so that boingboingers can discuss the controversy in the comments for this post.
Here is LeGuin's story, which Doctorow copied illegally:
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-ChabonAndGenre.html
Here is LeGuin's original letter:
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-OpenLetter.html
Here is the apology which Doctorow ultimately issued:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/an-apology-to-ursula.html
Here is the first of the hijacked BoingBoing threads:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/lessigs-anticorrupti.html#comments
Here is the second:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/congress-dont-crippl.html
Here's a thread at StarShipSofa about Cory Doctorow, including (in more recent posts) the LeGuin controversy:
http://forums.starshipsofa.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=162
(As you can see from that last thread, no, I don't like Doctorow. If you have a problem with that, feel free to discuss it in the comments.)
I've invited them here to continue the discussion without further hijack, as I think this is an important issue that needs to be discussed. (For that matter, the hijacked articles also involve important issues that need to be discussed- hence my desire to provide a safety valve for the hijacking.)
For the moment, I've turned off comment moderation, so that boingboingers can discuss the controversy in the comments for this post.
Here is LeGuin's story, which Doctorow copied illegally:
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-ChabonAndGenre.html
Here is LeGuin's original letter:
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-OpenLetter.html
Here is the apology which Doctorow ultimately issued:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/an-apology-to-ursula.html
Here is the first of the hijacked BoingBoing threads:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/lessigs-anticorrupti.html#comments
Here is the second:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/14/congress-dont-crippl.html
Here's a thread at StarShipSofa about Cory Doctorow, including (in more recent posts) the LeGuin controversy:
http://forums.starshipsofa.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=162
(As you can see from that last thread, no, I don't like Doctorow. If you have a problem with that, feel free to discuss it in the comments.)
posted by Wintermute at 8:10 PM
3 Comments:
I've always wanted to read LeGuin, but the open letter she wrote left a bad taste in my mouth. The posting of her paragraph on boingboing was done with the best intentions and her angry response baffles me. Even if Cory was doing wrong I think she should have approached the whole situation in a nicer way. I no longer have any desire to read anything she has written.
I came to this situation not knowing who any of the principals were (Doctorow nor Burt).
After researching it, I must side with the SFWA, Pournelle, Le Guin, and even Mr. Burt. It is obvious that Mr. Doctorow wishes to eliminate current copyright laws, and is willing to go to any lengths to achieve this, honesty be damned.
The incredible blustering and righteous indignation about the initial scribd.com DMCA notices....much ado about nothing.
Frankly, I wish the EFF and Doctorow would sue Burt and the SFWA. I would enjoy seeing him lose, and then I would enjoy scribd.com (and other sites that harbor stolen material) being shut down due to the attention the lawsuits would bring. Please, EFF, Doctorow: Shut up and sue. No more bluster, no more letters. Just do it. Hypocrite!
Lastly, I'd like to mention Ms. Hayden. During these "debates," she has taken public cheap shots at Le Guin, Pournelle and Burt that are appalling. She should be ashamed, but you know, I doubt she is capable.
Thanks for dropping in, folks! As of now, it looks like one of the BoingBoing editors has deleted one of the links to my blog, but left the other. No explanation was given, either on BoingBoing or in email to me.
My personal feeling is that Doctorow's opinions on copyright form an ideology, in the sense that I explain in my post, "Ideology in a Nutshell" :
http://archie-archie.blogspot.com/2007/01/ideology-in-nutshell.html
In short, Doctorow's ideas have a superficial veneer of logic, but they don't really hold up to close scrutiny. He himself admits that he doesn't have any data to back up a lot of his claims. And, in true ideological fashion, he has a camp of followers who declare that if you don't follow the ideology, it's not because you have an honest difference of opinion- it's because you're an idiotic dinosaur who is behind the times.
And yet, that ideologizing is essential to his career. A true, nuanced view of copyright issues wouldn't garner him a reputation as a controversial firebrand, and he wouldn't be able to make his money from lecture fees and ad revenue, as opposed to royalties, where real SF writers get their money.
Let's not mince words here. Doctorow is a thief. He could easily, and legally, have linked to the original essay instead of reprinting the work without permission. That's what I do, and it's what any other respectable blogger does- we respect the spirit of fair use.
Doctorow, though, knows that the more time people spend on boingboing, the more time eyeballs will spend exposed to his ads. So, in order to raise a little extra revenue, he quoted a work that he knew had value, and which he knew normal people would pay for ($200, according to LeGuin.) And he stole it, and put it on his site where he could make ad money off of it, instead of linking to ansible's website, which paid fairly for the use they got out of LeGuin's story.
Personally, I don't think people should sue Doctorow. They should just outflank him, but appropriating his works in a manner that would be as infuriating to him as his actions are to people like LeGuin. For example, presumably one could make a simple script that would constantly copy all the CC-licensed BoingBoing content and create an ad-free BoingBoing mirror. You could even give it features that BoingBoing lacks, like a usable search engine. Why would Doctorow object? It's a non-commercial use, and the material is attributed to BoingBoing.
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