An Immodest Proposal
What is the feasibility of launching PG Canada on Canada Day (July 1)? Could we do it? We'd need: 1. Content: Some Canadian books (fifteen to twenty?), some French some English, ASCII and HTML format. It would be good if some of those books were only available from PG-Canada. 2. A Bilingual Site: Nothing fancy, just a front end with some content about PG-Canada, instructions about donating and / or volunteering, and a search / download mechanism for the books. 3. Non-Profit Status: A legal entity capable of accepting donations. 4. Marketing Materials: Press releases, slashdot announcements, pings to the blogosphere, newsletter sign-up, etc. 5. Volunteer Tasks: Things for volunteers to do. It seems to me that the only potential show-stopper for a July 1 launch is the non-profit status. (I don't think it's worth doing a full-on launch otherwise.) There has been talk on the mailing list about this - what's the status? jen.
"Jen" == Jen Zed <jenzed@gmail.com> writes:
Jen> What is the feasibility of launching PG Canada on Canada Day Jen> (July 1)? Could we do it? We'd need: Jen> 1. Content: Some Canadian books (fifteen to twenty?), some Jen> French some English, ASCII and HTML format. It would be good Jen> if some of those books were only available from PG-Canada. This is impossible: if PG-CAN is truly PG, they can be posted at least at other life+50 PG, e.g. GP-Europa, that is in Serbia, and is starting now. But probably DP-EU can welcome PG-CAN leaving the posting priority of some books to PG-CAN. Gallica has several titles connected to Canada, both in french and in english. If the possibility is realistic, we can start proofreading now, and some books will be ready for july. Later it might be too late. Carlo Traverso
On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:02:21 +0100, Carlo Traverso <traverso@dm.unipi.it> wrote:
"Jen" == Jen Zed <jenzed@gmail.com> writes:
Jen> It would be good Jen> if some of those books were only available from PG-Canada.
This is impossible: if PG-CAN is truly PG, they can be posted at least at other life+50 PG, e.g. GP-Europa, that is in Serbia, and is starting now.
Okay, time to admit that legal stuff makes my eyes glaze over. So I've just gone back to the mailing list archives and read the threads about DP-EU, Serbia, and life+50. Are these statements true? 1. Serbia, where PG-EU is currently hosted, copyright is life+50, but under pressure to harmonize to Europe's life+70. If Serbia changes to life+70, their life+50 books will need a new home in a life+50 country. Currently, there is no other PG in a life+50 country. 2. In Canada, copyright is life+50. Similar to PG-EU, if we had life+50 book on the site and the copyright laws were changed to extend the term, we'd need to move those books to a site hosted in a life+50 country. 3. Various other countries (Chile, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, etc) have life+50 copyright laws, so a life+50 PG could be hosted in those countries as well. What I'm wondering is that given that we could publish on PG-EU anything we could publish on PG-CA, what's the reason for building PG-Canada? - because it might help bulwark against extensions to Canada's copyright law? - because it would provide a home to PG-EU life+50 books should Serbian copyright laws change, and allow the continuation of work on life+50 books? - because it provides the opportunity to implement a second-generation PG infrastructure? jen.
"Jen" == Jen Zed <jenzed@gmail.com> writes:
Jen> On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:02:21 +0100, Carlo Traverso Jen> <traverso@dm.unipi.it> wrote: >> >>>>> "Jen" == Jen Zed <jenzed@gmail.com> writes: >> Jen> It would be good if some of those books were only available Jen> from PG-Canada. >> This is impossible: if PG-CAN is truly PG, they can be posted >> at least at other life+50 PG, e.g. GP-Europa, that is in >> Serbia, and is starting now. Jen> Okay, time to admit that legal stuff makes my eyes glaze Jen> over. So I've just gone back to the mailing list archives and Jen> read the threads about DP-EU, Serbia, and life+50. Are these Jen> statements true? Jen> 1. Serbia, where PG-EU is currently hosted, copyright is Jen> life+50, Yes but under pressure to harmonize to Europe's Jen> life+70. I don't think so. Serbia is currently not in the EU, and is under much wilder pressure (they were under bombing attacks a few years ago). Would you say that currently Iraq is under pressure to change his copyright law? It will be under pressure in 10-20 years from now, maybe earlier. PG-EU might help Serbia to resist these pressures. If Serbia changes to life+70, their life+50 books Jen> will need a new home in a life+50 country. Currently, there Jen> is no other PG in a life+50 country. Jen> 2. In Canada, copyright is life+50. Similar to PG-EU, if we Jen> had life+50 book on the site and the copyright laws were Jen> changed to extend the term, we'd need to move those books to Jen> a site hosted in a life+50 country. Jen> 3. Various other countries (Chile, Iceland, Japan, South Jen> Korea, New Zealand, etc) have life+50 copyright laws, so a Jen> life+50 PG could be hosted in those countries as well. Jen> What I'm wondering is that given that we could publish on Jen> PG-EU anything we could publish on PG-CA, what's the reason Jen> for building PG-Canada? Jen> - because it might help bulwark against extensions to Jen> Canada's copyright law? - because it would provide a home to Jen> PG-EU life+50 books should Serbian copyright laws change, and Jen> allow the continuation of work on life+50 books? - because Jen> it provides the opportunity to implement a second-generation Jen> PG infrastructure? I completely agree; we need as many PG-50 as possible, for all these reasons. Carlo
participants (2)
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Carlo Traverso -
Jen Zed