Perhaps publishers could be more honest and upfront about what he consequences of signing the agreement are in the first place?

When printers were the only people with the technology to print/publish, authors needed printers, and printers needed protection of their right to copy from encroachment by other printers/publishers. Our current publishing model retains that allocation of rights, but is now less relevant when we all possess the technology to copy/publish.Publishers have little motivation to change the system or the laws that preserve it, but as we move deeper into an era in which we focus more on “intellectual property” and less on copyright, authors can, do, and should consider alternatives that will ultimately drive changes in the law.

Regarding Victor’s note, I think most of us have had the experience in recent years of negotiating variations in copyright agreements with academic journals. As you say, journals have little to gain from changing the old system, and it is up to authors to propose alternatives. The really tough nut to crack will be books — they are more costly to print/publish, and represent a larger investment by the publisher. Nonetheless, with the rise of simple print-on-demand options, anyone with a pdf file can print a copy of their book, undercutting the publisher. Here in Washington, the Politics and Prose bookstore has an Espresso Book Machine that can print and bind a book in 5 minutes.

When preparing for publication in a different journal, I noticed that they too appeared to have a policy whereby all rights were retained by them, at least that’s what it said on their website. But no one ever sent me any agreement to sign, so as far as I’m concerned I still possess sole and exclusive rights to this work. As a result I’ve considered releasing that paper to the public as well, but have hesitated because it’s just not worth antagonizing people any more than I already have (oh by the way, I had a run-in with the editor) and I’d rather not have to ask permission. So for the time being that paper is available only via Jstor, or to people who actually have a subscription to that relatively esoteric publication.

The moral of my story is: despite appearances, every publication has its own way of doing business and often you can get around these restrictions if you either 1. make the effort; or 2. do nothing. I prefer the latter.