Brewster's Public Domain Bookmobile roadshow

Nice Techsploitation column on Brewster "Internet Archive" Kahle's virtual bookmobile: a minivan with a satellite connection, a highspeed printer, and access to the Internet's store of public domain books. Brewster's driving the van cross-country, stopping at libraries and printing out kids' books on demand. I got to play with the bookmobile today and walked away with a still-warm, bakery-fresh copy of Alice in Wonderland, the first book I ever read on my own.

...The bookmobile plans to motor into Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, the day before the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, a crucial copyright case that Gelman says will decide how many books are part of the bookmobile's digital library...

The fate of the bookmobile's collection reminds us that people in the United States still need to fight to preserve the public domain, where anyone can access ideas for free. "Copyright should last long enough that authors are compensated and people's creativity is encouraged," Gelman says. "But with current copyright laws, ideas are too easily locked down." The public domain is a place for artists, writers, and other copyright holders to give back to the public after the public has compensated them for their work. If you don't catch the bookmobile, you can download the books from the Internet Archive or from other public domain book sites such as Project Gutenberg (www.promo.net/pg) or the English Server (www.eserver.org).

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