Gotta crank out these sausages so there's room in the kitchen for Turkey Day preparations. Maybe if the shutdown ends soon, SNAP recipients won't have to be satisfied with a Cornish game hen split six ways. (There will still be plenty of other shenanigans.)
- I suppose I should start by noting The Further Adventures of Eliza — the true ancestor of so-called "generative AI" systems. (By now, she's probably just another old lady.) Some proponents of these systems really, honestly believe that "information wants to be free (and everything is just information)," so they disrespect "opt-outs" (leaving aside that under the basic premises of copyright — indeed, all intellectual property law, whether US-centric or otherwise — opting out is for waiving protection, not waiving rights).1
- The obvious consequence is underinclusive class actions. Now I say that in the abstract; in the best of all possible worlds, all of the defendants engaging in similar schemes would be in a defendant class, all owners of copyright interests would be in the plaintiff class, and the judge would be authorized — indeed, enthusiastic about — using a chainsaw on prevaricating briefs. And lawyers. And outside commentators (especially those with conflicts of interest). This, however, is not that world, so we have to deal with… well, the realities of litigation. Such as the underinclusive list of eligible works — a list that, as usual for anything with which the Authors' Guild is involved, neglects "abnormal" publications by their concept of "normal," such as requiring an ISBN or ASIN, and dismissing self-help books that outsell all but a few of their actual members — in the context of the realities of the primarily-cost-effectiveness narrowing of the case.
The perfect is the enemy of the good enough, and definitely the enemy of the achievable. Don't be fooled by carrion-eating "advocates" searching for scraps in pursuit not of an achievable better deal for the actual rightsholders, but for their own award of attorney's fees. If you, as an author, choose to opt out, do so only after having experienced IP litigation counsel review the details of your specific circumstances — not based on spam2. (This is explicitly not an offer of representation or solicitation of business for me.)
- Which beats worrying about how unearned inherited wealth is warping social values. It's even worse Over There… until you look at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in which each Heffalump resident in the last third-of-a-century-plus has been a scion of inherited wealth.
- In somewhat better news, wingnuts took Election Day results in very delicate portions of their anatomies indeed. Not just Over Here, either; even the "governing party" in the Netherlands (which doesn't mean quite the same thing as Americans think it does). The wingnuts really don't like hearing any of this from a mixed-race… individual (sarcasm tag superfluous, doncha think?).
- Wingnuts also need to rethink exactly how they approach institutions that seem not to welcome them as much as they think they deserve. Oh, wait, that would undermine their sense of entitlement, so maybe it's as unrealistic as the suggestions running around to opt out of the Anthropic settlement without a competent evaluation of particular circumstances…
- Also leaving aside the deceptive naming habit of damned near everyone in this conversation — "Copyright Alliance" without conflicts of interest my avulsed toenails.
- From what I've seen — and I suspect I haven't seen all of it — spam that arguably violates applicable legal ethics rules, neglects Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 23 and the parts of the Manual for Complex Litigation (sorry, the web reference isn't working during shutdown) relating to management of class-member options, misrepresents the most-relevant facts, and completely fails to acknowledge the uncertainties and costs of proceeding with individual suits, or even alternate class actions. The preceding has been edited for the benefit of your screen; my real opinion of the opt-out spam that I have seen drips acid. I've got more respect for your computer than that; the people who came up with these campaigns… didn't. At least they're not porno trolls — at least, not yet.