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[This media release redistributed with permission by EFF as a courtesy to the media professionals on the EFF presslist. IA Founder Brewster Kahle is an EFF Board Member.] For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 24, 2002Digital Bookmobile Tour Gives Free Internet Books to KidsGoal Is One Million Public Domain Books OnlineInternet Archive Media AdvisorySan Francisco - On September 30, the Internet Archive's (IA) Digital Bookmobile will embark on a cross-country journey to deliver free digital books to children nationwide. The Bookmobile will stop at public schools, libraries, universities, mobile home parks, retirement homes, a Bookmobile conference, Hewlett Packard Digital Village schools, and the Inventors Hall of Fame, printing free copies of public domain books along the way. The Bookmobile will park and print books at the United States Supreme Court building where, on October 9, the Justices will hear arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, a landmark case that will decide how many books can be part of the Bookmobile's digital library and all other digital libraries in the U.S. The case will determine if the government can extend copyright by another 20 years, effectively removing millions of books from the public domain. "A healthy public domain means more books for more children," said IA Founder Brewster Kahle. "It's tragic that 98% of all books controlled by copyright are out of print, and therefore not available through the Internet." Kahle and his eight-year-old son Caslon will pilot the Bookmobile on its cross-country trip. Caslon says, "Bookmobiles rule!" To celebrate the public domain and the launch of the Bookmobile, the Archive is hosting a "going-away party" at the Archive from 4:30-7:30pm PDT on Friday, September 27. IA invites anyone who loves books to join us in wishing the Bookmobile a safe and fun-filled journey. Links:
For directions to the Internet Archive party:
For this advisory:
Bookmobile conference:
Inventors Hall of Fame: About the Bookmobile:The Bookmobile is a rolling digital library capable of downloading public domain books from the Internet via satellite and printing them anytime, anywhere, for anyone. Just like the bookmobiles of the past brought wonderful books to people in towns across America, this century's bookmobile will bring an entire digital library to their grandchildren. The Bookmobile is a Ford Aerostar with a satellite dish mounted on top, and a card table, chairs, and laptops in the trunk. It is packed with a high speed printer, book cutter, and book binder, donated by Hewlett Packard and the Children's Science Museum. At each stop, using the laptops hooked up to the Internet via satellite, a user will be able to access the library of public domain works at www.archive.org and choose a book, which will then be downloaded, printed, and bound.
For more information and pictures of the Bookmobile
suitable for publication, see: About Internet Archive:The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 to provide "universal access to human knowledge." Located in the Presidio of San Francisco, IA is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, the Archive provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
For more information on the Internet archive, see: About Eldred v. Ashcroft:Eldred v. Ashcroft is a challenge to the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Act, which extended copyright by 20 years both for existing copyrights and for future copyrights. Under this law, copyright owners control their work for their lifetime plus 70 years. That means for 20 years, not one new book will enter the public domain, and this is just the most recent extension. Copyright has been extended 11 times in the last 40 years. Since works have been repeatedly and retroactively kept under copyright control, the concept of a Public Domain must now be considered by the Supreme Court. The Internet Archive submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court explaining that if Congress is allowed to keep on extending the copyright term, it will take works even longer to enter the public domain. This will stifle the vibrancy of digital libraries that depend on new technologies to distribute works to people the publishers tend to forget.
For more information on the Eldred v. Ashcroft, see: Contact:Lauren GelmanJeff Ubois
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