Acknowledgments

Sponsors of this book

Total Knowledge (www.total-knowledge.com), the company I run with my son Ilya and daughter Sasha.

Direct Interlocutors

These are the fine people whose active participation in discussion, extensive knowledge, powerful emotional charge, plain help, and advice caused the book to emerge. I do not dare distinguish between co-thinkers and opponents to all or any of the ideas which I am trying to assemble in my message. I also do not distinguish between those I argued with directly and those whose posts I just read, finding them interesting, helpful, or thought provoking.
I want to express my special thanks to the following people:
Tom Poe, founder of Open Studios, who was the major disciplining force for me. Tom was the very first who encouraged me to put together the Authoright license, one of the central points of this book. Tom helped me to overcome my own laziness and to put in writing most of the book chapters. They appeared for the first time in my column, Culture vs. Copyright, in the Open Studios Newsletter, published by Tom.
The late Cookie Holley, founder of bNg Records (the site doesn't work any more, but the mailing list bumpNgrind@yahoogroups.com still does), an enthusiastic, artistic, absolutely unique personality of a unique fate. Cookie was able to invoke the highest sense of personal responsibility while being wise and gentle. She was another driving force for my quest. It is truly tragic that she is no longer with us.
Ilya Volynets, my dear son and the most intensive interlocutor in discussing of all the ideas elaborated in this book. It was he who quickly and clearly grasped of the essence of many issues. Ilya was actually that brave man, a hero of thought, who consistently denied any direct, legally backed money to reward creativity... Yes, it was Ilya, who helped me to tear piece by piece the flesh of copyright-related prejudices off of my bones until I felt completely free to think about the subject and apply my extensive cultural-studies related knowledge to many issues relevant to so-called “Intellectual Property.”
Sasha Volynets, my lovely daughter, the first and brilliant literary editor of this book. She contributed greatly in refining and fine-tuning my work in terms of content, wording, and style.
Miriam Rainsford-Clinton (iriXx), my very first and so far the best reader, a dream reader for any writer. I did not have to convince her personally that these ideas are practical―my text was convincing enough for her. Miriam also provided some significant advice for this work.
Robert F. Bodi, a fierce opponent of mine and defender of the status quo. No co-thinker helped me as much as he did. Robert's diverse argumentation clarified my understanding of the minute details of real impact exclusive rights have on society.
Many participants of Anti-DMCA mailing list (dmca_discuss@biggins.networkcommand.com—it's no longer active) and the above-mentioned bumpNgrind mailing list. This book would never have come to existence without them: Seth Johnson, Jon O., Roy Garris, Jean-Michel Smith, James S. Huggins, Matthew T. Russotto, DeBug, Kevin Marks, Michael Weishaar, Jim Bauer, Pieter Hulshoff, Andrey V. Khavryuchenko, David Haworth, Miguel Dias, Jay Sulzberger, Dr. John Raymond Baker, Dan-redball, Steven C. Barr, Chuck McKay, and many others. Great thanks to you all.

Cultural Interlocutors

I had used in my deliberations many ideas of prominent philosophers, psychologists, philologists, artists, poets―Vladimir Bibler, Mikhail Bakhtin, Lev Vygotsky, Josef Brodsky, Osip Mandelshtam, Diego Rivera, Thomas Jefferson, etc., but I barely quoted or cited anyone. That was intentional―I just wrote as I understood the subject matter of the book, and thus, I take all responsibility for it on myself. I also wanted this book to be readable and understandable for people whose school major was not philosophy. I thought it was necessary because it’s nearly impossible to find a person unaffected by copyright or patent-related turmoils nowadays. Nonetheless, if some bits of the book seem too philosophical, you can safely skip them. Remember, every single idea is repeated many times over in the book.
I am compelled to pay a special tribute to the first thinker on my list, Vladimir Bibler, a Russian philosopher of Jewish descent, who felt that ancient Greece was his cultural motherland. I was lucky to communicate with him for years. Vladimir Bibler developed a vision of the culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which is “The Dialogue Of Cultures.” The Dialogue of Cultures is interrelated with “Dialogics,” the logic of thinking and communication, and “Paradox-logic,” the logic of the transmutation of ideas. A special application of this triad to education gave birth to the concept of the above mentioned “School Of The Dialogue Of Cultures.” Vladimir Bibler passed away in 2002. He left books and articles, written and published in Russian, which are not that easy to understand but are impossible not to accept. I believe Vladimir Bibler is one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and of mankind. His ideas were what mostly guided my quest.