scanning

Some time ago, J Whaley wrote:

>We have been busily scanning borrowed collections of documents for the
>past two years to establish our electronic MultiCultural Archives. The
>university counsel and a staff member of the Virginia Attorney General's
>office decided that scanning equals publication. Thus all usual
>restrictions re copyright and privacy are in force. I would be
>interested in other opinions.
>
>J. Whaley, Coordinator for Electronic Archives
>University Library Services
>Virginia Commonwealth University
>jwhaley[_at_]ruby.vcu.edu

I would be interested in seeing either a copy of the opinion letter, or a summary of its major points.

For instance, it does not seem to me that merely scanning a document would constitute publication for purposes of a privacy tort. In general, some dissemination is required, and merely scanning doesn't disseminate

Lee Tien
<tien[_at_]well.sf.ca.us> Received on Wed Jan 26 1994 - 21:06:01 GMT