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Alvo Regular user 102 Posts |
Thanks to the wizards at Google, this rare classic text is now available for everyone.
I am hosting the PDF version at my blog for anyone interested: http://alvo.typepad.com/blog/2009/05/fre......din.html It's a great read, Alvo |
mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
Thank you so much.
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truesoldier Inner circle 1191 Posts |
Thanks Alvo
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electric.ceu Regular user I can't believe I have 130 Posts |
Thank you. Very much appreciated.
Timothy James
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
That is an excellent and very important book. Thanks for hosting it.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
JRob Veteran user Central South Carolina 395 Posts |
Thank you, Alvo
"Jim Roberts, AKA: Professor Jay Rob "<br>
The Professor's Facebook Page |
JasonBaney New user 92 Posts |
And so it begins.....Believe it or not it is not really good news as far as magic goes. In case you don't know Googles plan is to scan and make available every book in the world including magic books. Copyrights don't matter, they settled a lawsuit and instead paid a 125 million dollar fine to the publishers. If you happen to be an author and don't want your book scanned you have to opt out, which is the ironic part. You would think you would have to agree to be included but it is the other way around. Unfortunately for us it is just another form of magic exposure because a deceased author/magi doesn't get a choice.
BTW I know the whole idea sounds absurd but if you don't believe me look it up, google book scanning project. And then think of the current google earth project where they are photographing every street in the world, sounds impossible too, but its being done. |
Clay Shevlin Elite user 497 Posts |
^^^ The Google settlement is not final. The court hearing is scheduled for sometime in the first week of October, and when that happens, it’s reasonably possible that a court could reject the settlement or some of its terms. Some of the economic terms are perceived to be rather favorable to Google and have led to complaints and calls for federal antitrust scrutiny (here’s a Consumer Watchdog letter if anyone wants more details: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resource......0109.pdf ). In any case, take heart, Jason, I tend to think the Google situation isn’t as bad you may fear, though I’m sure we share a few of the same general concerns about Google’s plans (fyi: I’ve never read or heard of Google specifically calling out magic books for scanning). Some other very brief thoughts and comments.
The copyrights and copyright laws – only the U.S. laws are covered in the proposed settlement – really do matter to Google, otherwise it wouldn’t have settled the lawsuit as it did. And I agree, the “opt out” requirement (as opposed to an “opt in” deal) does seem odd, but that’s how all class action lawsuits work: you’re automatically included in the “class” unless you tell the court to remove you from the list of plaintiffs. But even if they don’t opt out, authors and other copyright holders can still instruct Google not to digitize their books, or require that their books be removed from Google’s book database, thus no public access (and no exposure, for those who are concerned about that). Another important point is that the settlement only applies to books published prior to 2009. One interesting complication of the settlement: as far as rights to separately copyrightable pictures and the like, Google would have no reproduction rights in those kinds of things [u]unless[/u] those pictures, etc., were also owned by the same person/entity who owns the book copyright. Books can often contain hundreds of illustrations and pictures that are reproduced by permission of numerous third-parties – indeed, for some books the only real interest is in the graphics (an art history book, for example). So an interesting question arises for these kinds of books: how complete a book can Google offer? Who wants to pay for a digitized version of an incomplete book, and how and to what extent will Google disclose this incompleteness to buyers? On the bright side, even Google’s digitized product will eventually fall into the public domain and thereafter may be freely used/sold by others! |
JasonBaney New user 92 Posts |
Well, unfortunately it may not be final but it has already started and every little bit hurts magic. These days it lives on in the internet forever. I don't think any exposure is good, especially globally. I am only trying to get the word out.
Every magician should be concerned about exposure but they are not. If they truly loved the art and the history then they would realize magic is about secrets. It is what makes it mysterious, it is what makes the magic happen. The question everyone always asks, "Can you tell me how its done" aka what's the secret. No, they aren't specifically targeting magic books but they stated they wanted to scan every book in the world. This book just shows we aren't protected. Robert-Houdin can't opt out. If the author is dead or doesn't hear or know about this it can be scanned. I don't care how old a book is, that doesn't mean the secrets are any less valuable and shouldn't be exposed. I am sure all the current publishers of magic will opt out but that still leaves a lot. Basically if it only covers books published prior to 2009 that means EVERY magic book in the world except the few that came out this year are viable. That is not reassuring to me. The fact that the images aren't covered is however reassuring. Although I've learned many secrets without seeing an accompanying picture. Please don't mistake my passion for aggression. This is in no way directed towards anyone here. The truth of the matter is Google has more money than it knows what to do with, and it doesn't care. 125 mil,500 million, really makes no difference, we won't see that money. Magic as an art still loses. It is exposed. |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
First of all, with the astronomical amount of books in the English language to be scanned, it's going to take Google a lot of time and manpower to do the work.
Second, in order to know what to scan, they need a list and a source. Where are they going to get the books? How are they going to know they exist? It's not a moot point. It's a legitimate question. Not all copyrighted material is listed in the LOC register. Third, with very few exceptions, most books published in the last 20 years or so will not require scanning, if the publishers will send the PDF files from which they are printed directly to google. I don't know any publisher that is stupid enough to do that. Fourth, it wouldn't matter whether Robert-Houdin can or cannot opt out. The book is in the public domain. That means that it does not have a valid copyright. Before anyone goes off on the misconceptions about public domain, let me explain what the public domain is. "Public Domain" is a specific legal term that refers to items that are either not copyrighted, patented or trademarked, or items that WERE at one time protected by copyright, patent or trademark and such protection has expired. It does NOT refer to material that people can purchase publicly. Once an item has gone into the public domain (legally speaking), with very few exceptions, it is now the property of the public. Anyone can produce it, anyone can work with it, and anyone can reproduce it. The biggest exceptions are those items that are covered by the Restoration of Copyright Act. Once an author has died, his material is still copyrighted for another 70 years. These rights are transferrable to his estate. This is a part of the copyright law of the US, and of all other signatories to the Bern convention. No matter how big Google is, they can't steal from all of us. October is just the next battle.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
Alvo Regular user 102 Posts |
Well said, Bill!
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critter Inner circle Spokane, WA 2653 Posts |
Exactly.
"The fool is one who doesn't know what you have just found out."
~Will Rogers |
Rudy Veteran user Maryland 360 Posts |
Thank you Alvo
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PCoreyB Regular user 139 Posts |
Interesting case but in the mean while...thanks for the link, it's a great book.
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
One other thing I neglected to mention when I posted my initial diatribe -- Google didn't start this. It was started in 1971 by Michael Hart, who invented the e-Book. He founded Project Gutenberg in 1971. His first eText was the Declaration of Independence.
He was careful to produce only ASCII copies of public domain material. He has encouraged other people to contribute their own ebooks to the project. From time to time, Project Gutenberg CD-ROMS have been issued. Sometimes, some non public domain material gets into the mix. One that I have somewhere in my collection has the lyrics to several Beatles tunes. These were expunged from later versions. Copyright law is still the law. As long as organizations such as ASCAP exist, it will remain the law of the land. Now, Jason, I know you think that nobody cares about the exposure in these public domain books. I do. There are a lot of other people who do as well. But here's the question. How did you get interested in magic? Maybe you saw Doug Henning or David Copperfield perform. What did you do next? My magical education started with the local magic shop and went almost instantly into the local library. One of the first books I read was Illustrated Magic. Most of the secrets in that book are antiquated. But it still had good information. There is a difference between teaching and exposure. Teaching requires effort on the part of the student. Exposure does not. Teaching is transactional. The student invests something, effort, money, work or a committment. Exposure is non-transactional. The recipient of the exposure gets the information without any investment or responsibility of any kind. I was the first person to publish a photo of Valentino as the Masked Magician on a web site. I did this within 72 hours of the first Masked Magician program. I risked a possible lawsuit. I put my tuchis on the line. What have YOU done? Back then, several of us, including Walter Blaney, David Copperfield and a host of others put up money and internet space, taking on the exposers. A few joined in our battle. More let us do the work. So, after the ill-fated courtroom scene in 1998, when the judge threw the case against Valentino and Fox out, because no damages had been incurred at the time, many of us decided it was time to let the rest of you take up the fight. The ball's in your court. Now, it's your turn to take up the fight.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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