Re: copyright changes

On Tue, Jun 08, 1999, Nick Zales <zales[_at_]execpc.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 7 Jun 1999, Rich Stim <rwstim[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > Under fair use guidelines, libraries and nonprofit archives must
> > prominently display the notice indicated below in a place where
> > photocopies are made or ordered.
>
> Do these notices serve any real purpose? Of course not. People
> copy whatever they want regardless of these notices. So why go through
> the trouble? To protect rights? No rights are being protected, lay
> people do what they want. In fact, people laugh at and mock these
> notices. I submit they serve no real purpose and should be done
> away with.

So what you're saying is - We should also do away with speed limit signs because no one obeys them anyway. So we should just become a society of "buyer beware". If no one is looking, you really haven't broken any laws.

I'm not saying I don't totally agree with you, but I think (at least in my experience) people are pretty good about agreeing to terms and conditions that are spelled out. In fact people have asked me about the disclaimer before and I've told them so they are clear. To educate using my drawing or idea is fine. To sell my ideas as someone else's, is not fine. This is what needs to be spelled out to more people. I think fair use needs to be spelled out more to people in these situations as well. I've worked in information retrieval and gathering and don't totally understand everything.

In my experience, the worst thing an expert can do is not educate, those in need, and refuse to learn from those who have a differing perspective from their own.

Just my 2-cents worth.

Craig Hayward
<chayward[_at_]hbmaynard.com> Received on Wed Jun 09 1999 - 15:20:00 GMT