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November 2, 2006
People Really Frelling Unclear On The Concept
Posted by Alan Wexelblat
Mark Frauenfelder is reporting in boingboing that some idiot is trying to claim copyright in the Principia Discordia. If you don't know why this is nearly the height of absurdity I probably can't explain it very much. Suffice it to say that the volume is one near and dear to the hearts of certain elements of what used to be called the counterculture, as well as being a religious text for pagans who worship the goddess Eris. And that the book was clearly released into the public domain by its original 1965 authors.
The new book has a new title, new layout and some new text, all of which are being roundly derided by devotees of the original work. Boingboing also has links to scans of the original work and various text editions. Help yourself!
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1. Brother William on November 2, 2006 8:01 PM writes...
It seems BoingBoing has overstated the case. The new version's publishers have not copyrighted the text but rather the layout itself.
There also seems to be confusion of citing that the text is "Public Domain" rather than Kopyleft which is different again.
See http://drjon.livejournal.com/676404.html
Still it's a rather daft idea.
Permalink to Comment2. Branko Collin on November 23, 2006 8:34 PM writes...
"If you don't know why this is nearly the height of absurdity I probably can't explain it very much."
Please try anyway. I was under the illusion that public domain meant anybody can do anything to a work, including modifying it and thus receiving an automatic copyright on the resulting derivative work, but apparently I was wrong about that?
Permalink to Comment3. drwex on November 24, 2006 10:49 AM writes...
The issue has less to do with the idea of a public domain work and more to do with the particular work. The point of the Discordian belief system is that NO ONE can tell you what to do. You have to be the sole authority and responsibility for your actions. Freedom comes from learning to reject the imposed systems of authority and generate your own internal guides and take full responsibility for those.
Therefore, it's pretty ridiculous for someone to take a book promoting that belief system and try to wrap it in an authority structure that controls what people can do with it.
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