Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 02:02:54 -0700
Reply-To: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Subject: Re: Copyrights
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
WOW. A major breakthrough!
We now seem to have general agreement that it is perfectly reasonable
for Bob Hoover not to want his Sermons and other writings distributed by
others on CD without his control. His writings are a real work of
authorship ... and as such they need and deserve the fullest protection
of the copyright laws. We all benefit from that, actually.
The typical post to the list is a very different type of writing,
however. Each post standing alone does not really have much value.
When they're all put together, though, they are a tremendous resource of
great value to a lot of people. Indeed, people post to the list
specifically to make the info they contribute publically available to
others...not for profit, but to help others and to help build the
archive for everyone's use and benefit. We all come out ahead.
No one gets upset when people search the archives over a modem. That's
what they're there for. Searching the archive on a CD or a local hard
drive is really no different...so long as no profit is made and a list
member is doing the searching. The significant difference is that the
latter mode of data storage makes access to the archives possible while
on the road or at some other location where there is no modem or phone
available. The use is the same, and within the use granted by a postee
to others when he or she sends a post to the listserver hard drive.
Anyway, Ken's suggestion (below) just about bridges what little gap
remains on the issue and would seem to sidestep the copyright
problems...if they even exist, at least in the context of use I
described above, which is all I think anyone is proposing.
I for one think this list is great...as it is. Sure anything can be
better, but it's still great. Please realize that the copyright and
intellectual property issues raised by the proposed CD of the archives
are pretty much at the cutting edge of the law...and have caused lots of
hair-pulling and despair in other quarters. I think it's great that the
list can deal with such a complex problem and actually come to some
resolution. Sure....some tempers have flared...but you're going to have
that in any lively discussion of a complex topic where competing
interests and concerns are implicated. I 'm imporessed...and I think
the list is far from dead....
steve
Ken Hooper wrote:
> Grasping at motes, I note that 90 megs of HD space works out to
> something
> like five dollars at today's prices. There has never been any reason
> you
> could not download the entire archive to your own HD (if likeminds.com
>
> would tolerate the throughput).
>
> Solution? Make the archive available complete, condensed, so you can
> make
> your own copy for personal use? The distribution of the CD is where
> the
> line is crossed, so my take is that this way nobody has a legal
> exposure
> and we can talk about something else more interesting and maybe all be
>
> friends again.
>
> --Ken
> 68 Westy, Admin --type2-- The Volkswagen Bus Mailing List
