Thread by @gauravsabnis

Some reflexive responses to this are of the "Nooo, respect Caravan IP" variety. I get where they're coming from, but they miss the point.

Of course you should subscribe to Caravan if you can afford it!

But if you can't, this is a perfectly ethical "Fair Use Doctrine" mechanism

https://twitter.com/leftistcupcake/status/1366258265034694658

I went to grad school with the dude who started Caravan and also met him again last year. Caravan is not something he started to make money and retire in switzerland. It has a bigger purpose. Of course, quality journalism needs ₹₹₹ so that awesome content is paywalled. But...

...But if you can't afford to buy the subscription but would still like to read their spectacular investigative and other such pieces about India's cascading crises?

I really doubt Anant will lose sleep over someone offering to send PDFs of articles from Caravan.

Fair Use Doctrine should be a universal earthwide doctrine in this social media age. Not just the US.

Fair Use Doctrine is exactly what it sounds like. If your use of content is "fair", as in you're not pirating content to profit from it, and if it is covered by precedent re fairness, you can use anyone's IP without their permission. That's US law.

https://twitter.com/gauravsabnis/status/1358756094240243713?s=19

India though has a culture of guilty until proven innocent. And a culture of wealth = power.

If you're rich and connected, you can plagiarize multiple foreign songs for Sholay and still be considered a genius Pancham cos Pancham. Even to make money.

If not connected, lol.

The biggest indicator of Indian culture's inherent privilege-perpetuating blind spots and fluid morality is R.D. Burman. Privileged brat who plagiarized and lied and plagiarized and plagiarized. And plagiarized.

But desis still think he was a genius, not a lucky spoilt brat.