it is still cowardice. 'free the bits' does nothing to solve the copyright law's inherent problems (including the lack of 'for a limited time'), the abuse of power by publishing corporations, or the lack of per-use compensation to artists.
if it was my papers he threw out there into the either without MY permission, i'd be pissed off at him rather than just apathetic. If I put my work on JSTOR, I agreed to the terms of doing so, regardless of if they were fair or not - I would have had alternatives including self-publishing.
I decide the value of MY work and how I choose to get it out there, not some kid with a depression and a grudge.
So again, I couldn't care less. It actually would increase my impression that it was cowardice, dying for a cause that would be better served by living to see it through to a *just* end. The people out there illegally dumping academic pdfs are just compounding the issue - again IT ISN'T THEIR'S TO DUMP out there.
The comparison to Arab Spring is hardly valid. An academic who agreed (by their own choice) to a contract that isn't necessarily in their optimal economic interest (but still have jobs and careers) is HARDLY the same thing as being born into a society where dictators decide if you will even get through the day without being arrested and tortured as being 'anti-government' merely because you accidentally started whistling a Bruce Springsteen song.
no subject
if it was my papers he threw out there into the either without MY permission, i'd be pissed off at him rather than just apathetic. If I put my work on JSTOR, I agreed to the terms of doing so, regardless of if they were fair or not - I would have had alternatives including self-publishing.
I decide the value of MY work and how I choose to get it out there, not some kid with a depression and a grudge.
So again, I couldn't care less. It actually would increase my impression that it was cowardice, dying for a cause that would be better served by living to see it through to a *just* end. The people out there illegally dumping academic pdfs are just compounding the issue - again IT ISN'T THEIR'S TO DUMP out there.
The comparison to Arab Spring is hardly valid. An academic who agreed (by their own choice) to a contract that isn't necessarily in their optimal economic interest (but still have jobs and careers) is HARDLY the same thing as being born into a society where dictators decide if you will even get through the day without being arrested and tortured as being 'anti-government' merely because you accidentally started whistling a Bruce Springsteen song.