Welcome to Volume II, Issue 4 of THE GOREAN VOICE !

Greetings!

     This month, I am turning my editorial space over to Marcus, who will address an issue very important to those who would live as Gorean with honor, and those who would obey the laws of the society we live in.

We'll see you next month!

COPYRIGHTS AND HONOR by _Marcus_ of Ar

"How is it honorable for a man to post accusations in an open forum rather than first confronting the alleged perpetrator?"      Personally, the way I see it, if someone has a problem with something someone else is doing, he can stand on the tallest cylinder and shout it from the rooftops. If he doesn't feel like tracking the fellow down and confronting him with it, the onus to do so is certainly not on him.      If he were to sneak around behind the offender's back and whisper all sorts of nasty things about him, without giving the fellow the opportunity to respond, then he would be behaving like a dishonorable sleen.      Is it dishonorable to speak publicly about a crime without first speaking to the accused in person?      Uh, that kind of depends upon what the person is doing wrong, doesn't it? If the person was, say, in the process of murdering someone, then it would make more sense to go straight to the police. Or take suitable action to prevent the wrong-doing from continuing. Like, say, posting info about it in...a public forum, perhaps?      To inform those who might be concerned about it, so that they might attempt to take some action?      "How can it be dishonorable to share books with people who have difficulty obtaining them to read?"      It can be dishonorable if, by doing so, the party in question is:           (((( BREAKING THE LAW ))))      Especially when that person is making copies of someone else's property and giving it away for free to people. If you don't think that is against the law, simply get a couple of VCRs, dupe off a couple of hundred copies of DUMBO, and set up a little stand in front of Disneyland giving them away for free to all the kids who visit the park. Then see what happens. For the record, when it comes to copyright infringement, don't mess with the Mouse. I have it on the highest authority that there is a secret section of every Disney Theme park known as "Lawsuit-Land."      Norman does not write for free; he sells his work to publishers, who then produce books from his writing and sell them to book stores, who sell them to the public. Norman receives residuals and royalties on every one of his books, which are still in print, which are sold. You give them away, and you are taking money right out of his pocket. And those are not the kind of fans, or admirers, that he wants.      "But that same information can be gleaned from reading web sites about Gor!"      Yes, and if all that is needed or wanted is the info which is already on web sites, why distribute illegal copies of the books at all? Well, the answer is obvious. Information from the Gor books is NOT the ENTIRE TEXT of the Gor books. Fans can write all the discussions, comments, interpretations and plot break-downs on the books they want to. What they are not allowed to do, under law, is copy the books and hand them out to anyone who asks for them.      "Copy-right." "Right to copy." See the connection?      "But those zipped files of the Gor books have been around on web sites for a long time. It is not as if anyone is claiming that it is not Norman's work. And it is not for sale!"      Oh my gosh! You're right! If other people break the law, then it must be okay for everyone to do it!      We all flirt with copyright law every day, every time we log onto the net,every time we draft a web page. Copyright is everywhere, particularly when you dealing with subjects based upon another person's work i.e. the Gor books. It is almost impossible not to cross that line, a little, at times. Occasionally you can even get away with minor infractions. But when you make unauthorized copies of those books, and pass them out, you are violating the laws which protect that work in a particularly grievous and harmful way. There is no way around it. It is cut-and-dried. Copies of novels, in electronic form, distributed without the author's permission, are absolutely, irrefutably illegal.      The facts are indisputable: if someone has the permission of John Norman and his agents to distribute electronic copies of his work, then that person has nothing to be concerned about. His honor, and good name, are therefore quite intact.      But if he does not have such permission, he is breaking the law in a big way, and doing a rather serious disservice to John Norman in the process.