If academics will just insist on not assigning copyright, they may get further; publications need authors, and to demand copyright assignment will become a competitive disadvantage.
"The ACM copyright form now explicitly says that authors can post a copy on their personal websites" --scott_s
Actually, ACM can be pushed further than that. When ACM solicited an article from me for their Communications magazine, I (nicely) refused to execute their copyright assignment, even with the personal website permission. So ACM proposed instead a simple licence to publish (royalty-free, worldwide, non-expiring, any medium, non-exclusive) which I was happy to sign while preserving my copyright ownership, and which gave them everything they need. But recently IEEE has refused a similar licence arrangement, insisting on a copyright assignment or no publication (which was what I chose). I expect ACM to prosper over IEEE.
"The ACM copyright form now explicitly says that authors can post a copy on their personal websites" --scott_s
Actually, ACM can be pushed further than that. When ACM solicited an article from me for their Communications magazine, I (nicely) refused to execute their copyright assignment, even with the personal website permission. So ACM proposed instead a simple licence to publish (royalty-free, worldwide, non-expiring, any medium, non-exclusive) which I was happy to sign while preserving my copyright ownership, and which gave them everything they need. But recently IEEE has refused a similar licence arrangement, insisting on a copyright assignment or no publication (which was what I chose). I expect ACM to prosper over IEEE.