Dec. 1st, 2007

prusik: Newton fractal centered at zero (Default)
You get to send Andrew Burt, the Critter Captain, a note when you quit. I took the opportunity to tell him that his item about Cory in the October 10th Critter newsletter was petty, and that his current path undermines his goal of bolstering authors' rights. To my surprise, he wrote back. I honestly didn't think I was worth the effort. Unfortunately, it's the same hash he has always uses, served with an implied accusation of being closed minded on the side, garnished with a little passive aggression about me quitting Critters. My only reaction to the last is "Well, duh..." When is a protest resignation anything besides a futile gesture? In any case, I don't think of my action as a protest. After October 10th, my heart wasn't in it any more. It was either quit, or wait to be auto-deleted.

Dr. Burt seems to think that the people who disliked his actions are solely people who haven't taken the time to read, and understand, his side of the story. I wrote back to tell him he was wrong about that. I think I've read most of what he's written about what happened. I understand why he feels what he did were the right things. This does not oblige me to agree with him. I don't.

Yesterday, I had asked at the SFWA community why we should expect the copyright committee to behave any differently than the e-piracy committee. They are composed of the same people. No one directly involved in the errant DCMA takedown notices to Scribd has made any forthright statement that makes me think they wouldn't do it again. (The responses to my question are amusing though, if anyone is interested.)

Andrew Burt proved me right by doing it again. He raised Scribd as an issue for the copyright committee almost immediately after I asked my question. At least in this specific circumstance, I think I have a good read on Andrew Burt's side of the story.

I find this all sad. I think he genuinely wants to make the world a better place for authors. It's unfortunate that, on the whole, his methods and his actions haven't had that effect. What a waste...

Profile

prusik: Newton fractal centered at zero (Default)
prusik

January 2014

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12 131415161718
1920 2122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 5th, 2026 03:51 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios