Maybe of interest for some here:
If the project #TheWeb of Tim Berners-Lee could unite the like-minded dreamers here for the better internet? My input (I’m a printing engineer / information logistics via digital print): a physical network of Things, each of which enables secure access to #TheWeb. And the Things are Public Library PAPER books, with “digital twin access” interfaces - via SMART QR-code stickers, integrated into a book cover / dust jacket. I hope that ubiquity of books and trust to their public roots & non-capitalistic value of Learning will attract Peer-to-Peer book sharers. Including sharing constructive emotions (similar to social media, but without negative and hype, thanks to certain algorithms), collaboration ideas etc. Does it sound viable? https://devpost.com/software/IndiviDUALbooks
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Looks like a noble enterprise. How do you deal with copyright?
We enable more decent royalties (for CopyRight/CR owners) flow, secured by blockchain: each book usage is initiated by click at ISBN code
- increased ca. by 20%, thanks to more sales & library loans
- each usage event reflected in the Creative Passport*
- two types of royalties protected, though we could ‘ignore’ CR:
- For Visually Impaired People /VIP***
- For non-VIP: right2copy for private needs.
Issue: it takes time to explain to (legacy/stubborn/greedy) publishers, that they should OPEN books (&eBooks) data, to
- receive +20% royalty
- AND DOUBLE sales from Long Tail** books.
- slide 12, http://bit.ly/oeBookSlides4Aalto
** slide 9, http://bit.ly/oeBookSlides4Aalto
*** via ABC Global Book Service
And we start it as Blue Ocean solution: for currently under-served groups, by providing them TRIPLE-A books (Accessible, Affordable, Available), with ‘digital twins’ of contents - adjusted & adjustable in real time - to the unique user:
- VIP make 20% of population, currently served only ca. 1% (by audio books for VIP
- immigrants (books at non-local languages are rare), elderly people (digitally illiterate) who need SPECIALIZED books in ONE UNIQUE copy each, like special fonts for dyslexic/ Large Print Books.
And (referring to Copyright question) our strongest feature is ISP’s / Copyright protection & enhanced support: see Public Libraries Testimonials, slide 8 https://bit.ly/oeBook4Espoo
We would also be interested in hearing about what motivated you initially to develop this? Was there an initial experience or piece of writing that made you aware of this need?
Hello @VladiKup, that’s a very attractive model. And you are right on the money there, it depends on publishers. They are incredibly powerful, and what they say goes. Let’s hope they come around…
Thanks @alberto! Division of knowledge books into PAPER books & eBooks is inherited from pre-hyperconnected era. Some publishers are starting to understand that*, but the old-timer authors & publishers are still ‘gate-keepers’**, just because they DON’T UNDERSTAND what ‘digital era’ means 
.
Therefore we need Dutch-like* use cases / to break the legacy (thanks to COVID-19 also); I am trying to persuade Cities-as-MyData-Operators in Finland: Sign Up | LinkedIn
I also explain at slide 9***, that Pareto rule is not working for Long Tail books (Long Tail DOUBLES sales&loans of books).
And the most important is that we’ve sold the issue of royalties, by providing each PHYSICAL book’s loan with THE digital interface, UpCode: a book is send to be printed on-demand via this MyData-approach-conform FINNISH 2D-code (UpCodeworld.com) of book’s UNIQUE ISBN’s token.
The issue: it’s hard to explain how it works to thousands publishers and millions authors The smartest (Finnish) librarians understand though: see slide 13***
*watch 2 min., from 38:00, Dutch publisher refers to the ‘hold’ bestsellers scheme, shown at 30:00 of this video Jesper Klein: Building digital libraries for all - Kirjastokaista
**“The other problem with the AG’s argument is that it assumes every ebook rental from a library represents a lost sale. This is simply untrue.” https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/284988-the-authors-guild-declares-war-on-digital-library-lending-libraries
***IndiviDUAL books presentation - Google Präsentationen
https://twitter.com/celia_gov/status/1105424312364871680?s=09 Retail means excessive costs for books, though eBooks are less costly by-design than paper books. It means that eBooks distribution is seriously flawed. Built for pre-digitalized society, eBooks business models need re-design for hyper-connected era.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90404633/battle-for-the-future-e-books-at-the-local-library
Maybe you will have better luck than the Internet Archive. They made the decision when lockdowns started to offer a huge selection of scanned books loaned out library style with the idea of doing the public libraries’ job on their behalf while they sort themselves out. But they got sued by the publisher’s association and after their explanation, which I thought was pretty reasonable, was rejected, the Internet Archive withdrew the service. But they are being defended by the EFF and another firm, so the story is far from over.
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Thanks @johncoate, for your great example case IA! My comment below, sorry the long read.
Though not being a lawyer, I can judge this case from my (living in EU) perspective, also thanks to being a MyData Founding Member². There are some differences in EU vs. US copyright laws, also in the law systems (continental vs. case law). But ‘FAIR use’ is almost similar in both, and it can be defended in court. For (at least) FOUR DIFFERENT ‘fair use’ cases:
(1) books in Accessible Formats, for Visually Impaired People VIP
(2) for PRIVATE USE
(3) for force-majeur circumstances, like IA did (when pandemia closed public library (PL) services. Some legal opinions here¹)
(4) as a human right case.
FAIR use cases may look different in national legislatures, e.g. U.S. vs. Italian vs. Finnish; in U.S. there’s ‘exhaustion’ of copyright³ (first-sale doctrine) when a book is legally owned, e.g. by buying it or via donation, “forgotten” by Alexander (who inaccurately⁴ referred to Copyright law), quoted By TechRepublic⁵. See very good comments in the IA blog⁶ re. societal effects.
But I play safe (Case I), even though I’d like to defend these cases in court: I’ll start my service for Visually Impaired People (VIP) ONLY, by leveraging The Marrakesh Treaty for VIP (U.S. is also a party, that signed the Treaty): it provides for right to copy (incl. right to order & to receive copy) - of copyrighted books without asking permission from a copyright owner.
In EU nation countries we have a paragraph in Copyright laws: right to make copIES for PRIVATE USE (⁷Art. 12). Up to four copies⁸, by Finnish law, for family members AND closest FRIENDS (Case II).
My plan: to start service #MyData #IndiviDUALbooks (Bœks)
- with ‘fair use case I’, for VIP only;
- then to implement ‘fair use case II’, for PRIVATE uses, in Finland - to EU - to U.S. (maybe). I discussed it with libraries/lawyers in Finland: THOUGH IT’S A LEGAL RIGHT, NO-ONE WISHES TO RISK A LEGAL BATTLE. So, I may use ‘a trick’: data cooperatives¹² instead of PL.
- ‘fair use case III’, for data cooperatives, see below¹², in Finland - to EU - to U.S. (maybe)
- ‘fair use case IV’, as-a-human-right, for force-majeur (pandemia), where applicable.
Cases III/IV - IF SUPPORTED by strong communities (like Edgeryders/ MyData).
I like what IA did, but with all my due respect, I don’t (yet) have resources to fight in court against publisher monsters. I can only try to explain them that they lose more than gain, if opposing Bœks (like in above Dutch-like* use cases).
Also like against Amazon’s business model killing local businesses: my idea is here⁹.
The Accessible Formats of books, provided by Bœks innovation - is even an OBLIGATION for public services, by Accessibility laws. Though not enforceable yet, similar to GDPR’s Article 20 (data portability). Nevertheless, I promote the Accessibility AND cost-efficiency of the Bœks.
The U.S. Copyright Office¹º stated that "[t]he tangible nature of a copy is a defining element of the first sale doctrine and critical to its rationale."¹¹ Therefore, when DATA is not rival, a right to enjoy the PERSONAL DATA assets don’t need to be protected in courts (like the threat to IA). It is a HUMAN RIGHT, like the right-to-internet in Finnish law, or the First Amendment in U.S. law. This is a long topic, but there’s a good paper, that I plan to leverage for my next level (‘fair use case III’) in implementation my Bœks, as-‘The Bœks for The Web’: ‘property-owning democracy’ through personal data platform cooperatives’¹².
I consider Bœks a TRANSFORMATIVE use case, it’s a ground for asserting Bœks as FAIR use case: as we apply access to PERSONAL DATA assets into a PL book form-factor: MyData Label-Button approach / MyData Operators best practices access in1click at The Button,
- for PERSONAL benefits, non-accessible without TRANSFORMATION into Bœks.
Re. ‘the exclusive right of reproduction’ vs. ‘right to copy’ (⁷"exclusive right to control
a work by reproducing it AND by making it available to the public", Section 2).
Quote from EFF: “That (CDL program) means that if the Archive and its partner libraries have only one copy of a book, then only one patron can borrow it at a time, just like any other library.”
My Bœk solution has three sub-solutions:
(1) is similar to CDL, but in a PHYSICAL / PAPER form. It is (to be) supported by the novelty of Finnish law: royalty is paid to copyright owners when a book is loaned by a PL, also for e-books. A Bœk, when (a scan file is) sent to be printed, signals ‘a loan event’ to the relevant Finnish authority (state fund Sanasto), that provides royalty payments, for VIP
- or even if a book is ‘loaned’ (a forthcoming, Peer-to-Peer, loan of a Bœk, received from a PL) by a natural person, i.e. not by a PL, but leveraging the PL’s data / resources. Thus protecting copyright holders’ economical interests / leaving them off the argument "IA’s NEL is vile"¹³.
(2) When a physical book owner uses his/her right to produce & share a (legally obtained) Bœk copy in a paper form (or CDL-like e-book, INSIDE a Bœk’s DUAL form-factor; it’s like CDL from IA) FOR PRIVATE USE (a fair use case, for e.g. family member).
This case differs from (1), as a PL patron / a data cooperative member utilizes FOR FREE the Bœk printers, owned by PL / or by the data cooperative (like MyData Coop).
2 € eco-deposit applies though, like a deposit in a sale price for a plastic bottle;
(3) 10+2=12 € deposit applies, if a PL patron ‘purchases’ / prints himself/herself a Bœk, non-available commercially/from PL, via a PL database resources. This includes author royalty.
Case (3) differs - from case (1), by SEAMLESSNESS of non-availability of a book in case 1, for non-VIPeople, i.e. a patron must fulfill the request to share a Bœk (by postal service) - if such happens;
- from case (2), by economical constraints: if a patron prints for ownership (i.e. not shares) more than one Bœk per year.
¹Pandemic: Superior force (“force majeure”) and its impact on business obligations in Quebec | Canada | Global law firm | Norton Rose Fulbright
²History
³Four commercial publishers filed a complaint about the Internet Archive’s lending of digitized books | Internet Archive Blogs
⁴Big Data: Latest Articles, News & Trends | TechRepublic
⁷https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1961/en19610404.pdf
⁸In Finnish language: instruction for users (2-4 copies allowed for family & closest friends “perheen ja läheisen ystäväpiirin välillä”; SUBJECT TO remuneration to copyright owners by state fund), from Finnish Copyright authority Luvallinen käyttö | Tekijanoikeus.fi
⁹https://twitter.com/SmartPaperVB/status/1269955167203528704
¹ºUnited States Copyright Office - Wikipedia
¹¹DMCA Report Executive Summary
¹²https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698230.2020.1782046
¹³https://www.zdnet.com/article/copyright-alliance-blasts-internet-archives-emergency-library-launch-as-vile/
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I repeat links, they were not linkable (incl. forgotten two links ⁵ and ⁶) in above comment:
¹ Pandemic: Superior force (“force majeure”) and its impact on business obligations in Quebec | Canada | Global law firm | Norton Rose Fulbright
² History
³ Four commercial publishers filed a complaint about the Internet Archive’s lending of digitized books | Internet Archive Blogs
⁴ Big Data: Latest Articles, News & Trends | TechRepublic
⁵ Big Data: Latest Articles, News & Trends | TechRepublic
⁶ Four commercial publishers filed a complaint about the Internet Archive’s lending of digitized books | Internet Archive Blogs
⁷ https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1961/en19610404.pdf
⁸ In Finnish language: instruction for users (2-4 copies allowed for family & closest friends “perheen ja läheisen ystäväpiirin välillä”; SUBJECT TO remuneration to copyright owners by state fund), from Finnish Copyright authority Luvallinen käyttö | Tekijanoikeus.fi
⁹ https://twitter.com/SmartPaperVB/status/1269955167203528704
¹º United States Copyright Office - Wikipedia
¹¹ https://www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca/dmca_executive.html
¹² https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698230.2020.1782046
¹³ https://www.zdnet.com/article/copyright-alliance-blasts-internet-archives-emergency-library-launch-as-vile/
It is clear that you have really thought this through. Good luck and please let us know how it’s going.
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Woah, time has flown since I kind of lost touch with Edgeryders last year during heavy workload and then the pandemic. My definition of infrastructure is usually hardware but since that is dependent on the social organizing I think it is important to consider the governing bodies and users ability to actually use infrastructure. Yeah typically the communications hardware, but curious to expand the view to include user and governance in that since it depends on the governance bodies and how users influence that.
I believe they can relate to each other, how data can travel in infrastructure influences data governance and vice versa e.g. how data governance allows how much and what data can travel.
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@VladiKup Hopefully it can unite people to dream but hardly have only like-minded people dream and share view of what a “better” Internet is. I do think your idea sounds very interesting for sure, curious to follow this thread and other threads about what happened. Sharing a low threshold similar to conventional books would probably make it easy to pick up.
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We have a public webinar coming up in January (date and time TBA) on the subject of making a large-scale Internet search that reflects the needs of the entire public, unfiltered by a corporate intermediary such as Google.
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Sounds very interesting, you’re welcome to notify me when there are more details.
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This is needed very urgently, I think.
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As there are layers (hierarchy) in networks - which level of privacy is needed at what layer? or: which level of transparency is needed depending on the specific needs of the layer in the network?
What are these “interconnected flows” more concretely?
Not sure I understand the question the way you intended it, but here’s the privacy challenge we faced. In any network bartering transaction in our system, I (as an example user) will be connected with a few other people in trades of goods and services. I will then get to know the real-world identities of these people, which is intentional.
If we’re on a blockchain, with enough data about real-world identities I can then do network analysis and figure out the network of suppliers for each of the participants. As in, the real-world identities of suppliers of companies that may be my competitors. And it is obviously unacceptable in a commercial context to leak this kind of information.
If we’re not on a blockchain, then there will be nothing to network analyze because there is no public pseudonymous record of transactions. Problem “solved”.