A Statement by The Readers Project concerning contemporary literary practice, digital mediation, intellectual property, and associated moral rights

The Readers Project contends that the existing custom and law of intellectual property is unable to comprehend or regulate a significant proportion, if not the majority, of contemporary literary aesthetic practices. As such, it is irremediably flawed. Specifically, we claim that processes implemented in The Project, with the intention of generating both aesthetic and critical outcomes, demonstrate how literary practices have been so altered by digital affordances and mediation that the fundamental expectations of human writers and readers are changed beyond easy recognition, and beyond the scope of existing legal frameworks. Moreover, practices of reading and writing are now inextricably intertwined with their network mediation—the Internet and its services—and questions surrounding copyright and intellectual property have shifted from who creates and owns what, to who controls the most privileged and profitable tools for creation and dissemination.