Introduction to Social Security

 William Blake is famously quoted for having said that the difference between a good artist and a great artist is that the former seems to steal, whereas the latter actually does. 55 years after Blake’s death the world welcomed baby Igor Stravinsky who later claimed “A good composer does not imitate, he steals.”. Three years after Stravinsky’s death, Joseph Beuys states that “Every human being is an artist”.

Run Beuys’ declaration through a Blake-Stravinsky filter and our artist-rich society suddenly appears to be rather plagued by theft. Now like most people, I have a strong desire to protect that which is legally mine from theft. Here is my problem: All law creators and enforcers are artists and as such thieves themselves to some degree.

“Trust no one.” - Fox Mulder.

After searching high and low for a safe which grants my intellectual property the highest degree of protection from theft, I have settled on dedicating some portion of it to the public domain, as by definition a public work can not be stolen.

For the month of August I will be travelling across the United States from New York to L.A. with a few stops along the path. During this time, I'll be writing a series for Seismologik which I call Social Security, a mix of project ideas unique to me as any ideas could be considered. These games, proposals, and plans are fixed in writing and upon being published and are dedicated to the public domain. You are free to build on, adapt, modify, profit-from, and share the content as much as you see fit and are able. If you’d like to offer compensation or attribution I’ll gladly accept but neither are required.

Thanks Much,
Ben Sisto

Comments

[jan voght]

Are we talking shades of plagiarism? Please excuse my ignorance. Just interested in learning and you have captured my interest with your "social security" theme.

[Ben Sisto]

Hey, thanks for reading Jan.

As far as I understand (and I am open to correction), plagiarism does not = copyright infringement. Plagiarism is use or imitation of the language & thoughts of other author(s) & false representation of them as being your original work, whereas copyright infringement is more about the violation of a copyright holder's exclusive rights - for example, to produce derivative works.

So plagiarism would be using dialog from Star Wars in your one-man show and pretending you wrote it; while producing a new novel based on the concept of Star Wars is copyright infringement. But, a plagiarism case - while not itself a criminal matter (more of a moral / civil thing), can turn into a copyright case if someone files suit.