I was not convinced in the sixties when people said that companies were building things to break, to maximise profit. But they did. Out fridge is had it after about 15 years, but one from 1950s I know is still working. With computers it is a little different. Everyone I’ve bought has replaced a working one, but was a major improvment on the last.
Any form of crippling information that is easy to copy is simply wrong for humanity. Information is not intellectual property. The plan is not the building, or the recipe the meal. The ebook however is the ebook, and writers need to be paid. The old scheme was useless though. Writers were paid very unevenly, on a scheme based on popularity rather than merit. Science writing for example needed funding from other sources, and we found ways, imperfect as they are, to do that.
We will find other ways to create ebooks. HarperCollins has had it. They don’t have a model that is native to the net. Soemone will think of one, but it wont be them. How to pay authors and editors, there are new models brewing like LuLu, and the breakthrough will come.
Boycott HarperColins, so this artificial obsolescence does not gain a hold and launch a new dark age.
On March 7, 2011, the publisher HarperCollins instituted an expiration policy on eBooks that are licensed to libraries. Under this new arrangement, eBooks would “self-destruct” after being checked out 26 times. This would require libraries to re-purchase the eBook if they wanted to continue to make it available. Libraries across the country are boycotting future purchases of HarperCollins eBooks, but our voices alone will not change their policy. We need your help.