On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <[email protected]>wrote:
> Nathan, 22/02/2012 19:27: > > In a moral sense, if we treat authors poorly because they live in a >> country >> where they are treated poorly, not only are we reinforcing that poor >> treatment - we are benefiting from their disadvantage. If Iranian authors >> were from any other of the vast majority of Berne signatory nations, they >> would have full rights to control and benefit from their work >> internationally. Should we benefit from their lack of freedom, over which >> they have little influence? Or should we make the ethical decision to >> afford them the same rights and interests that are afforded to virtually >> everyone else in the world? >> > > I can understand this reasoning from a "moral" perspective, but from a > practical point of view (or is it just economical?) I doubt this makes much > sense. As they already don't have any way to claim their rights outside > their country, by redistributing their works without compensation we're not > making them lose anything, unless we "compete" also with distribution and > ruin their market in their home country. > Moreover, given the embargo in Iran, does someone know if a publisher > would even be /allowed/ to give them a compensation? > And speaking of embargo, let me express some more concerns (might be wild > speculations): I consider it a very controversial political action, I don't > know if it's considered obvious and uncontroversial in the USA. I think we > shouldn't do anything to reinforce (nor evade) the embargo, because it > would be a political choice (or an illegal one, but that's out of question) > – we shouldn't discuss it on this list either, I hope this is not going to > open an off-topic flame –. If neither agreed nor non-agreed publishing is > possible, wouldn't "respecting" the country's original copyright just be a > way to worsen the situation of those authors, from a practical point of > view? > Also, I think this situation might have some precedent in some early 20th > or 19th century copyright regulations clashes across European countries, > which made life very hard for some authors. (This is a very vague thought: > Emilio Salgari disappointed with English translations of his works?) > > > Nemo > > Don't forget - while I used Iran as an example, it isn't the only country affected. ~Nathan _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
