Mygazines copyright infringement or good idea?
The latest website causing much fury and wringing of hands and threatening of lawsuits is Mygazines which is a website that allows access to magazines. Hundreds of magazines that you might otherwise have to go out and buy. Just about every subject seems to be covered - photography, comics, knitting, computing, sports, cars, and much more besides. You can simply choose the magazine you're interested in, load it up using the browser software on the site and read through it.
The publishers are hopping mad, which you'd expect really and I can't say that I blame them. They're saying that it's simply blatant copyright abuse - there's no fair dealing here, no commentary, opinion, nothing like that. Unfortunately for them, the website is registered in Anguilla, which is a British overseas territory. So US courts can do and say what they like, but the chances of enforcing it are limited, to say the least.
Mygazines are going down the route that it's users who upload content, ostensibly for their own use, but they're allowing other people to share. I think they're trying for something along the lines of FURL or Evernote but both of these organizations are very strict on what users can do with content. Mygazines are further saying (hold your jaw in place at this point folks) that it's just like a doctors waiting room - people can read magazines there which they haven't bought, so why not? They also make the ludicrous claim that the content cannot be saved or printed. It doesn't take a genius to work out ways of getting around this without even trying.
Anyway, if you're interested - take a look. I can pretty much guarantee you'll be saying to yourself 'how can they get away with this?' in short order.
The publishers are hopping mad, which you'd expect really and I can't say that I blame them. They're saying that it's simply blatant copyright abuse - there's no fair dealing here, no commentary, opinion, nothing like that. Unfortunately for them, the website is registered in Anguilla, which is a British overseas territory. So US courts can do and say what they like, but the chances of enforcing it are limited, to say the least.
Mygazines are going down the route that it's users who upload content, ostensibly for their own use, but they're allowing other people to share. I think they're trying for something along the lines of FURL or Evernote but both of these organizations are very strict on what users can do with content. Mygazines are further saying (hold your jaw in place at this point folks) that it's just like a doctors waiting room - people can read magazines there which they haven't bought, so why not? They also make the ludicrous claim that the content cannot be saved or printed. It doesn't take a genius to work out ways of getting around this without even trying.
Anyway, if you're interested - take a look. I can pretty much guarantee you'll be saying to yourself 'how can they get away with this?' in short order.
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The issue with a Doctor's waiting room is that somebody somewhere actually bought a hard copy - I guess you could say the same for the person who put the content up on the web in the first place... but still, it's quite a cheek if you ask me!
Posted by: Ruth | August 18, 2008 at 01:31 PM
How can they get away with this? :-)
See www.digi-zines.com too
Posted by: Bradders | August 19, 2008 at 11:55 PM