Anti-Copyright

[Samantha Trees]

What is everyone in the group's thoughts on Anti Copyright zines? Do you make any anti-copyright zines? What are some of your favourite sites to download, print, and distribute anticopyright zines from?

Here are two of my favourite sites:

http://zinelibrary.info/
http://www.tangledwilderness.org/

Samantha!

[redguard]

Anti-copyright means you are opposed to copyrighting creative material and believe it should be made freely available to everyone. Much of the current anti-copyright movement grew out of software development -- the idea that Microsoft or some other corporation shouldn't have exclusive rights to control and make profits off of things that all people need and thousands (if not millions) of people have contributed to developing. In a broader sense, it is opposition to the very idea of "intellectual property," especially in the hands of corporations.

I think with zines it come down to the idea that people are free to make copies or reuse in whole or in part zines you have produced.

One of the difficulties that comes from living under the current copyright laws is that if you put something in the public domain, someone else can pick it up, modify it slightly, then copyright it and take exclusive control. Some alternative means have been devised to prevent this -- particularly Copyleft and Creative Commons, which attempt to use parts of existing laws to ensure that items intended for free public use remain that way.

Here are some links for further reading on the subject:

Anti-copyright page on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright

What is Copyleft?
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html

Is Creative Commons anti-copyright?
http://commons.berneguerrero.com/2008/04/02/is-creative-commons-ant...

[redguard]

Because Absent Cause is a collaborative zine, I put it this way:
"Absent Cause is copyleft 2008 by redguard. This zine may be reproduced in its entirety, with credit. Individual pieces are copyright their respective artists and writers. Please contact the creator if you want to reproduce an individual piece."

[Alex Wrekk]

I used to really be into the idea of copyleft and anit-copy right..... then I had my art and my writing stolen and used for profit without even the slightest request about the use of my creations. I guess I put too much faith in the idea of community and people being respectful when that is just not the world we live in. I have been looking into the idea of creative commons and I like that much better.

[amy // twelveohtwo]

i agree with what alex said -- nice idea in theory, not always in practice.

i mean, for me it also depends on the type of zine. if it were some sort of how to or more of a resource zine, id possibly be ok with other people coping it for themselves or coping and re-distributing it for free or the cost of postage. but if it were a personal zine, i would not be ok with someone copying and selling/re-distributing my work (ie: my thoughts, feelings and experiences). especially not for profit. (hello, zines on ebay).

[RatPatric]

My favorite anti copyright author is actually Bill Waterson. He fought his syndicate on licensing his comic because he felt that it cheapened his work. Unfortunately, like Alex he got his work stolen too which is why we now have bumper stickers of Calvin peeing on a Chevy emblem.
I think that anti copyright's a really cool idea and I think that it's great that it's worked for software development for so long, (@redguard: I'm assuming you're talking open the open source software movement?) But I'll be straight with ya, I just don't know a lot about it.

[Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go]

QZAP (queer zine archive project) is a great site for downloading PDFs of zines.

http://www.qzap.org/v5/index.php

[Synthia Nicole]

thanks for the links. more to concider than i thought.

[Adam Joseph]

yes i would to say down with "intellectual property" images and speach should be free the idea of stolen art only makes art a comodity wich just destroy the idea now doesn't? I suport plagiarism in the fact that it reshapes the past in a way .when people appropriate art and or written texts they reclaim it and give it new life? ofcourse if done in the right way


redguard said:

Anti-copyright means you are opposed to copyrighting creative material and believe it should be made freely available to everyone. Much of the current anti-copyright movement grew out of software development -- the idea that Microsoft or some other corporation shouldn't have exclusive rights to control and make profits off of things that all people need and thousands (if not millions) of people have contributed to developing. In a broader sense, it is opposition to the very idea of "intellectual property," especially in the hands of corporations.

I think with zines it come down to the idea that people are free to make copies or reuse in whole or in part zines you have produced.

One of the difficulties that comes from living under the current copyright laws is that if you put something in the public domain, someone else can pick it up, modify it slightly, then copyright it and take exclusive control. Some alternative means have been devised to prevent this -- particularly Copyleft and Creative Commons, which attempt to use parts of existing laws to ensure that items intended for free public use remain that way.

Here are some links for further reading on the subject:

Anti-copyright page on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright

What is Copyleft?
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html

Is Creative Commons anti-copyright?
http://commons.berneguerrero.com/2008/04/02/is-creative-commons-ant...