Re: ethical considerations

From: Stephen Carlson (scc@reston.icl.com)
Date: Fri Oct 20 1995 - 10:57:26 EDT


perry.stepp@chrysalis.org wrote:
> My thinking is: when a message is offered to the entire list, it becomes
> property of each participant. Therefore, as long as one uses a message in
> context and doesn't alter the meaning of a message (i.e., "rewriting" someone
> else's post), participants should be free to print, concatenate, and share
> material from B-Breek at their discretion.

I'm not going to address the ethical considerations (except to note that
messages to B-Greek are probably not in a polished form that is intended
to be cited), there are copyright issues to consider as well. Generally,
a person is not free to copy, modify, or publically distribute a copy-
righted work without permission, except for fair use. That copyright
exists from the moment the message is written. So I object to the notion
that a message becomes the property of each participant; the author still
retains the copyright.

Stephen Carlson

-- 
Stephen Carlson     :  Poetry speaks of aspirations,  : ICL, Inc.
scc@reston.icl.com  :  and songs chant the words.     : 11490 Commerce Park Dr.
(703) 648-3330      :                 Shujing 2:35    : Reston, VA  22091   USA


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