Eric Eldred

Eldred at aCreative Commonsboard meeting in May 2007.

Eric Eldred(born 1943) is an Americanliteracyadvocate and the proprietor of the unincorporatedEldritch Press.Eldred was lead plaintiff inEldred v. Ashcroft,a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of theSonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Actbut lost in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 with the lawyerLawrence Lessig.He co-foundedCreative Commonsand served on its board of directors.

Eric Eldred has been described as a former computer programmer and systems administrator, a Boston writer, and a New Hampshire-based technical analyst. He is an independent scholar and first published online all ofNathaniel Hawthorne's works, as well as scanning many works forProject Gutenbergand others.

Biography

Eldred grew up inFlorida,graduated fromHarvard Universityin 1966 (philosophy, general studies), and then became aconscientious objectorduring theVietnam War.He was ordered to work for two years as alternative service, atMassachusetts General HospitalinBoston,where he was a respiratory therapist and a chief pulmonary technologist until 1987. After he bought anApple IIcomputer in 1980, he was active in Apple users' groups and went to Harvard Extension School (programming and technical writing, C.A.S. 1991). Then he worked as an engineer atApollo Computer(laterHewlett-Packard), and Cahners Publishing as a technical analyst and computer magazine journalist, then for Wang Government Services as a senior Unix systems administrator, before becoming disabled fromrepetitive strain injury.

During 2004–05, he lived in anInternetBookmobiletraveling the U.S. visiting schools and libraries and special events to show readers how to print their own free books.

Eldred is divorced, with three (triplet) daughters.

Eldritch Press

Eldritch Press is a website which republished the works of others in thepublic domain(no longer subject tocopyright). For some years, Eldritch Press ran on a Linux server from Eldred's home and is now hosted byIbiblioand no longer maintained by him.Its principal feature was experimentation withHTMLformats and the inclusion of graphics (while maintaining accessibility for blind readers) for online books that earlier had mostly been inASCIIformat. Since the works, and Eldred's derivative works based on them, are in thepublic domain,anyone can make use of them, host them, and create more works of their own without payment or credit.

In 2004, Eldred was denied a permit atWalden PondState Reservation to print and give away free copies ofWaldenon the 150th anniversary of its publication.In 2005, Eldred returned with a permit, secured with the help of theBerkman Centerfor Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, to print and give away copies of the book, and to demonstrate to readers how to self-publish and regain control of their own culture

Eldred v. Ashcroft

In 1998, theSonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Actwas passed, preventing Eldred's plans to scan and publish works first published in the US after 1922.He later became the lead plaintiff inEldred v. Ashcroft,a lawsuit that challenged theconstitutionalityof this act, but lost in theUS Supreme Courtin 2003.

References

• http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/19/fighting_to_be_free/
• http://www.mass.gov/dem/parks/wldn.htm
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB104276617127133384

External links

• http://www.eldritchpress.org/Archived2004-11-30 at theWayback Machine
• http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/