Category Archives: Internet Archive Bookmobile

Come See Me And The Internet Bookmobile At Emerging Technologies 2003

Leave a reply

I will be presenting with Brewster Khale this Wednesday afternoon from 3:45-4:30 in the Lafayette/San Tomas/Lawrence room at Emerging Technologies Conference going on all week in Santa Clara.
Here’s a short film I’ve just put together of the Internet Bookmobile‘s first stop of its first voyage.
This was shot on Monday, September 30, 2002, approximately two weeks before the Eldred Argument on October 11, 2002.
Bookmobile Launch (Low-res – 35 MB)
Bookmobile Launch (Hi-res – 72 MB)





More From Koman on the Internet Bookmobile

Leave a reply

Riding along with the Internet Bookmobile
For Salon
Angered by a law that extends copyright terms for 20 years, a crusader named Brewster Kahle wants to use the Internet to make books available to everyone.

It’s still four days until the big day at the Supreme Court. We still have books to make at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh and schools in Baltimore and Washington. Many of us are exhausted from covering 2,000 miles in four days, but Brewster is even more invigorated than ever. He can’t wait to stand beneath the stone-carved words “FREE FOR THE PEOPLE” that adorn the Carnegie and make books. The slogan, idealistic as it may be, fairly captures Brewster’s wildest dreams for the Net. A massive library containing the full breadth of human knowledge and experience, freely and easily accessible to everyone on the planet. A library truly free to the people.

Continue reading →

Richard Koman: What I Learned At Internet Bookmobile Camp

Leave a reply


Lessons from the Internet Bookmobile

One of the government’s main arguments in Eldred–since they couldn’t argue that extending copyrights retroactively stimulates creativity–was that work is more likely to be disseminated if a publisher or a studio has a commercial interest in distributing it. This is false in theory: How many people have seen “Steamboat Willie,” Mickey Mouse’s first film, which would have gone into the public domain if Sonny Bono hadn’t intervened? How many would see it if it were freely available to be digitized and downloaded from Kazaa?

Continue reading →

Internet Archive Bookmobile Hits The Road

Leave a reply

Brewster and his Internet Bookmobile hit the road yesterday.
The first stop was Belle Haven Elementary School, in Menlo Park.
I’ve got quotes and pictures and video going up soon. And I’ll be calling the gang (Brewster, Caslon, Art, Michael and Richard) on the road to get reports.
Oh yeah – the “Richard” above is Richard Koman who is coming along to write a piece for Magazine X! (I forgot if I can say this or not, so I better confirm one way or the other.)

Hal Plotkin on the Eldred Case and Brewster’s Bookmobile

Leave a reply

Hal Plotkin writes about Eldred in his latest column:
Free Mickey Stanford Law Professor seeks to overturn the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act

To heighten public awareness of the importance of the case an Internet bookmobile is set to depart San Francisco next Monday on a trip that will bring it to the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., before arguments wrap up. The van, which will be stopping at schools, libraries and senior centers along the way, is equipped to provide free high-speed access to thousands of literary and artistic works that are already in the public domain.
Tens of thousands of additional books would have come into the public domain (meaning their copyrights would have expired) over the next few years, but now they won’t thanks to the Sonny Bono law.
The U.S. Constitution states:
“The Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
So when Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, what turned out to be the latest of 11 consecutive extensions to the length of copyrights, it raised a very important question: Exactly what does the phrase “for limited times” mean?

Continue reading →