I know a little about that book; my name is Rosa.

Two days ago I caught a posting at Leo Babauta's Zen Habits, and posted this question on Ho'ohana Aloha, my tumble log: Is he foolish, or is he brilliant?

“I release my copyright on this content.

From now on, there is no need to email me for permission. Use it however you want! Email it, share it, reprint it with or without credit. Change it around, put in a bunch of swear words and attribute them to me. It’s OK. :)”

~ Leo Babauta writes Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content today… fascinating.

Since then, I've continued to follow the discussion at Zen Habits, and also at The Simple Dollar, where Trent Hamm followed suit. I am fascinated by the reactions they are getting.

My first thought was, "I hope they realize exactly what they are doing," for I surely would like to know more fact versus fiction about the differences involved between what Leo calls "open source blogging" and a statement of public domain, in comparison to the copyright protection (which I have for my book), and the Creative Commons Licensing I've opted for on all my online publishing done via Ho'ohana Publishing (including here, at Managing with Aloha Coaching).

As an author, I can tell you that even if you have it, copyright protection still won't stop the pirating and plagiarism and such that happens. Because of how small Hawai'i is, I see it happening all the time right here in my own back yard. My book is much better known than my face is...

-----

It would be yet another 45-minute plane right for me to O'ahu. On average, I take them two or three times a month, and have done so for the past five years now, so I have a knack for knowing almost exactly how much reading I'll need to bring with me to pass the time.

I'm not that unusual in the Hawai'i business community, and I'll often be sitting next to another frequent commuter who has similar road-warrior habits. We exchange some pleasantries, and then spend most of the flight in silence, reading whatever we brought with us.

I had the aisle seat on this particular flight, and since I got there first I waited for whoever had the window seat to arrive before pulling the work binder I'd brought out of my carry-on bag. Turns out to be a young man whom I guess to be in his late teens or early twenties, perhaps a college student. Turns out I'm right.

He has a backpack with him, and as soon as he sits down and buckles in, he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a fairly thick sheaf of papers held together with a large binder clip. I can see that he's studying it like you would a textbook: A lot of it is already highlighted, and he goes straight to a section he was obviously reading in the terminal before we boarded, for he then reaches behind his ear for the thin yellow highlighter he'd tucked there, and methodically finishes his review of the paragraph he was on, coloring a few more lines.

He is highlighting a completely xeroxed copy of my book, Managing with Aloha.

I cannot resist, and say, "That's a lot of yellow. Must be kinda interesting."

He looks at me as if he only now realized I was sitting there, and says, "Yeah, it's for school, and it turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I like it."

"What's it about?"

"It's a book called Managing with Aloha, about Hawaiian values and learning to use 'em at work. It's required for one of my hospitality management classes, and then my boss suggested we read it for our internship too, so I'm killing two birds with one stone."

"Seems like you went through a lot of trouble copying it like that - is that so you can keep the book clean and not highlight it?"

"No. Since we all had to have it, one of the guys in the same internship program made a bunch of copies for us cause he works graveyard shift right now. He sold it to everyone for just five bucks apiece."

"Oh. Well, looks like you're almost done with it. Do you have to do a report or something?"

"Yeah, an analysis kinda thing, on what values we think apply most to the internships we have now, and which will probably be more useful later."

By this time we're in the air, but still with a good 30 minutes of flight ahead of us, and so I ask him, "You want to practice on me? I know a little about that book; my name is Rosa."

-----

Poor guy went pale at first, but I have to say that he recovered quickly with the biggest, most genuine smile you have ever seen. What else are you going to do trapped in a window seat hundreds of miles up in the air over the Pacific Ocean?

For the next thirty minutes, Alex gave me one of the most honest, complete, in-person reviews I have ever gotten for Managing with Aloha. Guess he figured he owed me. He even showed me what he highlighted as important, and what he felt really wouldn't matter to him at all. You gotta love the confident wisdom of a 21-year old college undergraduate in a part-time hotel internship.

I enjoyed our conversation so much once we got into it, that Alex even got me to draw a visual for him on a back page of his xerox copy, but no, I didn't autograph it (and he had the good sense not to ask me to.)

As we landed, Alex said that he wanted to buy a copy of my book now that he had met and talked to me, but I told him not to bother if it was for the wrong reason.

-----

Though seeing the whole book was definitely a first for me, that wasn't the first time I saw xeroxed pages of my book, and I know it won't be the last. Sadly, I have long lost count of the number of times I have read something on the web, finding it sounded exactly like me (because I wrote it) without any attribution at all.

I'll never bother with hunting down the guy who made Alex the xerox for the five bucks (somehow, I'm pretty sure that Alex has taken care of that for me). But I have emailed people who have misrepresented my work in some screwed-up context, and I will continue to do so.

After thinking about this in the past two days, I have decided that for the most part, I don't agree with Leo and Trent. As a business woman, I believe in much of the good, not-so-common sense that goes with basic economics and free enterprise, similar to this comment offered:

The writers of the U.S. Constitution actually established copyright for a reason: to allow those who create creative work to profit from it, in order to *encourage* the creation of such work. Think about how that works: because I can copyright and thereby exclusively profit from my work (for a period of time), it is more likely that I will be willing and economically able to create.

I stipulate that the abuse of copyright is now frequent, and the system needs correction. But to correct is very different from indiscriminately abandoning the system.
~ Jacque Harper commenting at Zen Habits

However most of all, lessening the dignity of someone's work, stealing and flagrant plagiarism are not included in the Aloha values I prefer to talk about, values like Pono: Rightness, ethical behavior, and integrity.

Open Source Blogging, okay. Stealing, no.

Just because you can do something, and just because good-intentioned guys like Leo and Trent give you permission, it doesn't make it right, and it doesn't mean you should.

For me, it's a values thing.

Flickr photo by laihiu

Comments

[Jonathan Bailey]

Just to quickly clarify a point in my article, I realize that copyright protection won't stop the bad guys from being bad guys, that would be naive. However, it at least gives you a tool to stop the ones who do plagiarize and protect both your readers and yourself.

By going public domain, rather than something more modest, one ensures that the bad guy gets away, both encouraging them to start and securing their future in the business.

I just didn't see a point in that and, from the tone of your piece, you seem rather unsure of it as well.

That being said, I read your story with a smile. I've had similar situations with my work, especially my poetry, in the past. They are always unusual and awkward, but also rewarding.

On that note though, if there is anything that I can do to help, please don't hesitate to write and let me know. I'll gladly do what I can.

Take care and good luck!

[Joanna Young]

Rosa, thanks for sharing these reflections. I find it all a bit bewildering to be honest and don't know enough about it to offer an opinion, beyond I thought this was what Creative Commons was for.

I read Jonathan's article (hello Jonathan!) from a link on one of the comments at Zen Habits (wow, a lot of sycophantic readers there...) and thought it gave a very fair analysis of the position and potential drawbacks. Like Jonathan I had wondered if this was something of a stunt that 'big names' were using to draw more attention to themselves but that might backfire for others.

By the way I loved the way you describe coming across your work like this - I would have loved to see the guy's face! But your graciousness, as ever, shines through.

Thanks for exploring these issues for us so thoughtfully

Joanna

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Jonathan, thank you for coming by and commenting for me here. Like Joanna says, I too felt you wrote a very thoughtful article about this move by Leo and Trent, and I have subscribed to your blog so that I can learn more from you - in that way, I have a feeling you *will* be helping me, and have already helped many others. For instance, Creative Commons makes it so easy for us to be smarter about the publishing we do, and until reading your article, I was not aware that they offer this Public Domain option too:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/

Good morning Joanna. The sycophantic hero worship at ZH jumped out at me as well, and a comment at Jonathan's article this morning voiced another thought I share, for that is the tone that initially comes from Leo:

"Could the motivation for this decision be a simple “I give up”? If it is, I am deeply concerned at the feeling of helplessness expressed." - Recording Studio, at Jonathan's posting:
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/01/09/the-public-domain-trend/

Leo actually starts his article with this preface:

"Editor’s note: This post isn’t directly related to the main topics of Zen Habits, so feel free to skip it if you’re not interested."

He gets such tremendous traffic with his "main topics" that this wasn't necessary for him, and with the conversation there now 125 comments and trackbacks strong as of this writing, I feel for him, backed into a corner with defending his decision - and perhaps working now to talk himself into it?

[Jonathan Bailey]

Joanna: Hello! I'm glad that you liked the article. It was strange, my good friend Aaron, I believe he was also the one that posted the comment, let me know about what had happened I found myself literally staying up that night trying to figure out why it didn't feel right.

The decision really unsettled me in a way. Even though it wasn't my writing, something about it worried me. As I worked on the article, I figured out my concerns, but I expressed them knowing full and well it was too late. I just hope others don't follow suit and, instead, use the tools provided by Creative Commons to address these concerns.

Rosa: Aloha to you as well! I was also pretty taken aback by the sycophantic nature of the comments. A few people stood up to really analyze the issue but the majority were just "Thank you" and "Way to go".

The problem is that large blogs tend to have a built in cult of personality that drive that kind of thing (when do I hit that point?). Bigger problem though is that saying "I dedicate this blog to the public domain" is like saying "We're going green" or "We're supporting charity X"

It makes people feel good, it gives people the warm and fuzzies and since public domain is even farther left than CC, it makes people feel warmer and fuzzier. The problem is that people rarely stop to ask the hard questions.

In short, the reaction to this type of announcement is usually more emotional than intellectual.

Regarding the comment you referenced, I posted a reply to it a few moments ago, I won't repeat everything but I will say that I doubt that is the case. Unless he is hiding his true reasons for doing this, I feel he likely believes it is for the benefit of his readers, even though the vast majority of his readers will never need it.

However, looking at his "inspirations" it is clear that he has a fundamental misunderstanding about both open source, creative commons and copyright in general.

I hope that it doesn't cost him too dearly. But truthfully, I know it won't. Instead, I have to hope that it won't cost the rest of us too much...

[April Groves]

Rosa,

I have to agree with you. When my site crashed and I thought it was possible that I had lost all that material, I literally thought I was going to cry. Why? Because it is mine. I worked for it, I birthed it, and it is important to me. To give up the right to lay claim on it feels nearly like giving up my children for anyone to impress upon their own upbringing and call them their own. A bit overstated maybe - but for me, and I am sure you can relate, writing is more than just putting it out there - it is a creation.

I also appreciate your mention of free enterprise. Some of the reaction point to the fact that wealth comes from more than just money. While I believe that is true, I also know that I have a family to feed and clothe and care for. The grocery store and the mortgage company are not giving up their rights to what belongs to them without compensation anytime soon - so neither can I.

BTW - priceless story!

[Rosa Say]

Mahalo April for adding to this conversation in the thoughtful way you always do!

While Trent was a bit more gung-ho about it, there was something else about the tone of Leo's article that made me uncomfortable, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I read your comment just now. Generosity and belief in the greater good of the public is one thing, but we need to respect our own value and worth more than this. You're right, I can relate.

This remains a fascinating case study of the human element to me, and I believe that Jonathan says it well in pointing out that there are quick emotional reactions and more intellectual ones. At the end, we listen to our values (and behave accordingly), and I am very appreciative of this discussion where all of you have shared yours.