Goldsmith fails to adequately distinguish publication of one’s own work on the internet from publication of others’ work on the internet. Through his website, UbuWeb, Goldsmith publishes others’ work without permission and without compensation – which he explains further in this article (“If we had to ask permission, we wouldn’t exist”). Goldsmith’s theft of others’ work for use on his own website, to bolster his own reputation, is at best immoral and at worst illegal.
- What was the purpose of assigning this article for reading in this course?
- Why should we take Goldsmith seriously, a person who runs a website riddled with copyright infringement violations?
- Why should we take Goldsmith seriously, a person who would have no moral issues stealing our own work and publishing it on his website without our permission? Shouldn’t we – as artists – have the right to decide what does and what does not get published on the internet?