The time I interviewed Harlan Ellison about his lawsuit against a fan who posted his stories to Usenet

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/28/the-time-i-interviewed-harlan.html

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Thanks for re-posting the article. The preface alone captures the man’s personality better than any long-form biography.

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Clowns. Morons. Thieves. Thugs. Little pirates.

good name for a band…

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So this it what it feels like to be fucking wistful for the days when the greatest threat to online free speech was Harlan Ellison.

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All we’re missing are Gypsies and tramps and we can be a Cher cover band.

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Add waifs and strays and we can do Soft Cell covers too.

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And some, I assume, are good people.

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Whoa, for a moment there I though you were going to get political in this thread.

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just gonna leave this here

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How was him tilting and windmills a limit to free speech? They were his copyrighted works. I mean, this was the same time that the Napster debate was happening and was pretty much the same discussion. Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, free speech didn’t enter into it, unless I’m not following this correctly.

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I appreciate the use of my photo for your article. Here is a little back story on that photo. The photo was taken on February 12, 1977, a few months before my high school graduation. I had gone to this Star Trek convention to see Harlan Ellison. I have nothing against Star Trek, but I was a Harlan Ellison fan. For this photo in the autograph area, I walked past the actors from the T.V. show without a second glance. (Mr. Ellison brought along his friend, Robert Silverberg.) This was the first time that I had seen Mr. Ellison in person, though it was not to be the last. Later, he addressed the convention in the main hall. I recorded that speech until he asked me to stop. Apparently he was saying copyrighted stuff. During that same convention, I saw a coming-attractions reel for a movie that I had never heard of before, something called “Star Wars”.

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Thanks for the great story and the great photo!

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