OT: How come WE don't get on-line libraries like this?

[Wilson Gray]

I was purposely aiming only for truthiness. Besides, what was supposed
to catch your attention was the existence of the Digital Library of
Sardinia, a backwater region of Italy, and the fact that nothing like
it is available in the United States at any price, let alone at no
price, not inconsequential editorializing as to why that is the case..

Needless to say, the Sardinian site is under the auspices of the
regional government. Or, as some might look at it, the money is taken
from the pockets of the Italian taxpayer by a government controlled by
tax-&-spend liberals with nothing but contempt for the publishing
business and brick-&-mortar bookstores and even hard-copy libraries.

And, once again, think "truthiness," not "error."

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain




On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 12:29 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, the first part has nothing to do with the law--and I am not sure
> how accurate it is in any case. A reprint of a work in public domain
> cannot remove that work from the public domain as it does not grant the
> re-printer the copyright for the original text. The new copyright is
> only for any additional material--be it preface, historical essay of
> some sort, commentary and artwork. Index is not copyrightable in any
> case, even if it is new. So, if Google makes that decision, they don't
> make it based on law.
>
> The second part is also not entirely accurate either. The case has
> already been decided. The rules are essentially set. And it only applies
> to a small fraction of works that have slipped out of copyright in the
> US but are still under copyright elsewhere (and not even all of those).
> So the problem is not with the law per se so much as with the
> unnecessary complexity previously introduced into the copyright
> statutes. That fixed now, Congress can proceed to finally stop extending
> the copyright period beyond any sensible limit.

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