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by RecycledEle 925 days ago
The Chinese system of central libraries is better than copyright.

Imagine having every book ever written, for free, all your life.

Imagine authors and inventors being compensated twice what they are usually paid in the USA, while the corporate lawyers panhandle.

I know the lawyers would end up as party higher-ups still screwing us, but I can dream.

3 comments

A central, government-run library only shifts censorship from "not profitable" to "not in line with authority". It's not automatically better, but it's the logical one anyway when there's a ruling State.
It's great until you want to read that book about the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
In a system like that, how do you decide which authors get paid what? Is it per check-out with a floor?

I'm genuinely curious.