Free Books Online

[caesar novus]

http://www.technologyreview.com/featured-story/427628/the-library-of-utopia/ describes a new Harvard approach and:

 

After all, the Web already offers plenty of sources for public-domain books. Google still provides full-text, searchable copies of millions of volumes published before 1923. So do the HathiTrust, a vast book database run by a consortium of libraries, and Brewster Kahle's Internet Archive. Amazon's Kindle Store offers thousands of classic books free. And there's the venerable Project Gutenberg,

 

With very interesting post-1923 comments by jf292, which may possibly apply to movies as well:

 

The statement, "The upshot is that most books or articles written since 1923 remain off limits for unauthorized copying and distribution." is not quite right. Works published before 1977 but without the proper copyright notice are public domain in the US for failure to comply with the registration process. Works published between 1923 and 1963 might very well be in public domain if their copyrights weren't renewed. I recall a study by the Registrar of Copyrights estimating that something like 90% of these items were never renewed. The problem is you have to be in DC to paw through the copyright office records to find out.

 

Further, the problem isn't just US copyright law, which is thorny in its own right, but for online distribution copyrights in other countries also have to be considered, which typically leads people to say screw it after several martinis. :-)

Edited June 6, 2012 by caesar novus

[Maty]

There's another issue, which is a speciality of the internet.

 

Let's say the US does agree to go back to the original copyright law (and as an author I'd be quite happy with relinquishing my rights after 28 years). What happens in countries with more restrictive laws but free internet access to the USA?

 

The only solution would be another step in the direction we are already headed - the balkanization of the internet, where access to material is determined by geo-political boundaries.

 

It would be sad if a project designed to provide access to books everywhere instead limited access to websites everywhere.