In his February 24 ethics column for the New York Times, Randy Cohen argues that it's illegal but "not always unethical" to copy and share the full text of a book which is out of print but still under copyright. In fact, this kind of sharing promotes the purpose of copyright law (in the US, "to promote the progress of science and useful arts"), while letting the book's ideas "slip into darkness" would "undermine its purpose".
Cohen was responding to a reader's question about a particular book on aviation by Richard Coffey. When Cohen contacted Coffey, Coffey said, "I'm pleased [readers] still find it useful. They're welcome to post it and make copies."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/23/2008 11:02:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
