Re: TotalNEWS & Derivative Works

Dan Burk <burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu> wrote, in part:
>
> Yep. But by making it freely available, we can only infer that you
> (or CNN or whomever) have no objection to people viewing it, in
> browsers, in frames, and so on. If you (or CNN or whomever) *don't*
> want to give permission for it to be freely displayed, then password
> protect it, refuse service, put in a line of code that prevents
> framing -- or even just put up a notice "may not be viewed by people
> using frames."

You're way over my head on this one. What does "making it freely available" mean? How is that different than having a book published or a magazine or pamphlet printed so that copyright laws no longer apply? How come I don't have to print books on pink paper with red text to _prevent_ people from making copies? How come the burden shifts to the owner of intellectual property to affirmatively police the owner's rights?

The Web is a marvellous new means of publication with very low barriers to entry, giving modern authors a world wide audience without having to buy a printing press. Your position strips the author of the ownership of the medium unless the author can jump through hoops you have somehow divined to exist.

I've missed the part of the copyright law that says my works are freely available if they're on the _Web-. Was this the case when it was just the Internet? When the material was in Gopher space? Where in the law does it say that "Copyright 1997 Philip Stripling" means I have to password protect my material, refuse service, or put in extra language further putting people on notice of my claim. I have missed that section. Please let me know the source of your opinion.

> But in any event, what has TotalNews got to do with it? Once the
> link is activated, they don't touch what comes to your monitor from
> CNN (or whomever).

So we're back to guns don't kill people, my right hand pulled the trigger and the gun shot out the bullet and the bullet punctured the victim's heart. It was the heart that killed the victim, your honor. I wasn't the one that did it.

Sorry. Still no cigar. TotalNews pulled the trigger regardless of how people try to say it's just suggesting a possible inducement by someone else to maybe display my work. Maybe _some_ can only infer I have no objection to people framing my page to incorporate my work as part of their own, but my inference is that the copyright laws still apply on the Web and that my notice of copyright is fully valid and my rights still hold.

Phil Stripling
philip[_at_]crl.com Received on Sat Jun 07 1997 - 16:34:39 GMT