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I'm trying not to have serious opinions about copyright online right now because there are so, so many more important things going on
But I really feel like a lot of people I felt like I was on the same *emotional* page about this stuff I really wasn't, and that's interesting
But I really feel like a lot of people I felt like I was on the same *emotional* page about this stuff I really wasn't, and that's interesting
The Onion did a joke back in the 2000s about "Google announces plan to digitize and index all human thought and activity", which expressed the fears of the time very clearly
There's this very cyberpunk sense that soon everything will be scanned and on the cloud, unforgettable
There's this very cyberpunk sense that soon everything will be scanned and on the cloud, unforgettable
And of course we're all horrified by that -- some corporation having access to all our nude bodies, every word we've ever spoken, every movement and transaction, and *using it for profit*
But while I was saying "The idea of this archive being used for profit is horrifying, it shouldn't exist at all!" they were with me right up till the last part
"The idea of this archive being used for profit is horrifying, it should be a free public resource"
"The idea of this archive being used for profit is horrifying, it should be a free public resource"
Brewster Kahle, anyway, clearly falls into that category
Like he read Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and saw the idea of the entirety of all human cultural production in the pre-digital era being stored in a single metal block as exciting and invigorating rather than nauseating
Like he read Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and saw the idea of the entirety of all human cultural production in the pre-digital era being stored in a single metal block as exciting and invigorating rather than nauseating
I dunno, man, all the cool digirati people dunk on the EU's "right to be forgotten" -- which, sure, is a crappy sloppily written law that doesn't accomplish that much -- but their total lack of empathy for the concept really disturbs me on a visceral level
You know what I find comforting? That there's a fic I really liked a long time ago, and when I looked on AO3, the author had deleted their account and the fic was completely gone
And it wasn't popular enough for anyone to archive it anywhere, it's vapor, vanished
And it wasn't popular enough for anyone to archive it anywhere, it's vapor, vanished
I have no idea why, and I have no idea how to get in touch with the author
Maybe they were embarrassed by having written smutty fanfic, or maybe they were more embarrassed by all the "serious" plotty stuff that overtook the smut, by how invested their past self was in this crap
Maybe they were embarrassed by having written smutty fanfic, or maybe they were more embarrassed by all the "serious" plotty stuff that overtook the smut, by how invested their past self was in this crap
Maybe it was fandom drama, maybe it was to spite a specific person, maybe they converted to fundie Christianity and they felt obligated to nuke it
I dunno
It doesn't matter
It doesn't exist anymore, as far as I know, but in my head, where it will slowly degrade
I dunno
It doesn't matter
It doesn't exist anymore, as far as I know, but in my head, where it will slowly degrade
AND THAT'S AWESOME
I don't have the RIGHT to a copy of it if the author doesn't want me to have it
The author wanted this piece of their life vanished as though it never happened and THEY SUCCEEDED, which in our world is incredibly rare and difficult, it's like a miracle
I don't have the RIGHT to a copy of it if the author doesn't want me to have it
The author wanted this piece of their life vanished as though it never happened and THEY SUCCEEDED, which in our world is incredibly rare and difficult, it's like a miracle
People on the Internet ALL THE TIME try to erode this superpower, this gift, this blessing of having something you did be forgotten as though it never happened, and they think they're doing the author a favor
"Anyone happen to have a cached copy of this? Please please PLEEASE"
"Anyone happen to have a cached copy of this? Please please PLEEASE"
I used to be that person all the time
It just really struck me how different my attitude is now
This author wanted to be forgotten, and if I actually give a damn about them as a person, I will immediately get to work forgetting them and move on with my life
It just really struck me how different my attitude is now
This author wanted to be forgotten, and if I actually give a damn about them as a person, I will immediately get to work forgetting them and move on with my life
Even stuff like me telling you right now what it was about, or trying to reconstruct it from my memory -- which, not to brag, I'm pretty sure I'm capable of doing -- would be shitty of me
Like, obviously I have the *legal right* to do it, but it's not a nice thing to do
Like, obviously I have the *legal right* to do it, but it's not a nice thing to do
