Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age

by Cory Doctorow

Tim O’Reilly is the founder and publisher of O’Reilly Media, one of the largest tech-book publishers in the world. O’Reilly Media puts on some of the world’s best-loved technology conferences, and generally serves as a hub of technology know-how for people all over. Tim O’Reilly is known for many things: he cowrote one of the first UNIX manuals, he popularized the term “Web 2.0.” He’s also famous for saying “Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.” I happen to agree with Tim on this point, but I worry that many folks who read those words decide that what Tim is saying is “Once you’re famous, you’ll be rich.” If you read closely, you’ll see that this isn’t what he’s saying. He’s saying something like “Artists need to worry about fame before they worry about fortune.” Recognition is one of many necessary preconditions for artistic success: luck, talent, and an indefatigable drive to succeed that lasts through the years and years it takes to get noticed, build a following, or get onto the radar of an important promoter, gatekeeper, or investor are a few of the others. Further, you can have all those things without being a “commercial success” through the simple expedient of being a commercial dunderhead who spends money faster than he makes it.