Z:gnu-www-ja-freedom-or-copyright-old--3fdb25-The publishers would have us b/en

The publishers would have us believe that suppressive copyright is the only way to keep art alive, but we do not need a War on Copying to encourage a diversity of published works; as the Grateful Dead showed, private copying among fans is not necessarily a problem for artists. (In 2007, Radiohead made millions by inviting fans to copy an album and pay whatever amount they wish; a few years before, Stephen King got hundreds of thousands for an e-book which people could copy.) By legalizing the copying of e-books among friends, we can turn copyright back into the industrial regulation it once was.