Robert Cicconetti wrote:
On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 2:16 PM, Marcello Perathoner <marcello@perathoner.de> wrote:
Robert Cicconetti wrote: What???
Are you saying everybody can steal everybody's else's files if they contain only PD material?
If you *publish* PD material, everybody can take it and re-use it as they see fit. To publish something means to make it available to everybody.
If you keep PD material on a workgroup server which is not accessible to the public at large and somebody grabs this material without your permission, then the material is *stolen* and you can prosecute them. (Provided you can prove that it was indeed your file, which should not be difficult because the scanno pattern is practically a watermark.)
We're not talking about computer trespassing; the discussion is in regards to publicly available public domain material, not locked up on someone's personal computer or server.
We are talking about files that are sitting in some queue on a DP server. The DP server is not publicly accessible: It asks for a password. Taking a file out of a password-protected site and making it public without the site owner's permission is illegal. It is irrelevant if the file contains PD material or not. Try an art collector's home and explain to him that you have a *right* to enter and photograph his Monet because it happens to be in the public domain... -- Marcello Perathoner webmaster@gutenberg.org