On Tue, Mar 02, 2010 at 08:16:13PM +0100, Marcello Perathoner wrote:
Robert Cicconetti wrote:
Copyright works have to be in the public domain before any at DP touches it. It's still in the public domain while at DP, and it is in the public domain when it leaves DP for PG. We can try[1] to restrict access to intermediate stages by technical means, but we do NOT have any legal means to prevent redistribution short of trying something with contract law (a EULA or such).[2]
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.)
These don't seem like strongly conflicting statements. Our "no sweat of the brow how-to" gives a similar view. IF someone were to gain illicit access to files at DP or elsewhere, regardless of whether they were public domain, various legal remedies could be applied. (Quite a few, and most countries have their own set of remedies ranging from contracts, to EULAs, to things like computer fraud & abuse or misappropriation of resources.) But as Robert mentioned, that doesn't change that the public domain content is still public domain...no matter how much value has been added through scanning, OCR, proofreading, etc. What happens if such content mysterioulsy, untraceably extracts itself from DP and becomes available elsewhere? Well, it's still public domain. (Bonus reading assignment: Steven Levy's "Crypto," which describes how the PGP software, which was ineligible for export from the US, found its way into other countries -- where it was perfectly legal to use.) -- Greg PS: Over the years, I've been involved in various efforts to bring legal remedies to online incidents. It is very hard to do, especially when there is little or no money involved. Doubly-especially if any of the actors are in different countries. Robert's emphasis on technical measures, versus more legalistic ones, is more likely to give satisfaction.