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New York Times on Grokster

Daniel Radosh calls the New York Times out on its bullshit. Here's how the Times explains its support of the copyright cartel:

"When the Supreme Court takes up the issue this week, we hope it considers another party to the dispute: individual creators of music, movies and books, who need to keep getting paid if they are going to keep creating. If their work is suddenly made "free," all of society is likely to suffer....Both the court and Congress should be sensitive to evolving technologies. But they should not let technology evolve in a way that deprives people who create of the ability to be paid for their work."

Yet as the New York Observer points out, the Times is itself depriving creators the ability to be paid for their work. The Time has fought tooth and nail to claim copyrights over its freelance writers' work; Times contributions are therefore unlikely to see much of any income. In 1995, the Times circulated

a memo to editors saying that freelancers who wrote for The Times would be required to sign away all future rights, including electronic rights, to their work. Those who refused would be barred from writing for The Times.

'The paper's position on this is unambiguous,' the memo said. '[I]f someone does not sign an agreement, he or she will no longer be published in the newspaper."

(Via Radosh.net)