Message text written by "\"As good almost kill a man as kill a good book\"
-- John Milton"
>Persistence of old information. <

][<en's experience with the online-directory Nazis is sad but not all that
surprising. Once the info was in their possession, they claimed ownership
of it, although they had not created it or put it there. All database
publishers are in the same boat--databases can't be copyrighted. So they
all steal from one another, which it totally legal. However, any written
comments about the entries are not part of the database and belong to
someone and are copyrightable. 

US Copyright law until the late 70s said that unpublished work was
copyright (whether or not registered) in the name of its creator, but when
published, copyright transferred to the publisher, unless special agreement
was made to the contrary. The rationale was that publishers took on the
expense and risks of publication and were entitled to copyright. However,
in the late 70s the law was changed to protect the creators of the work by
copyright remaining with them even after publication, unless there was an
agreement to the contrary. Publishers immediately rewrote their contracts
to give themselves all rights in work they published. The Internet presents
some special situations but basically is a publishing medium subject to the
same laws. 

The telephone companies (starting when there was only one) attempted to
block the publication of their information by others, by claiming it was
under copyright. After much expensive legal action, the result was that the
basic information-such as name, address, phone number--is public and not
protected by copyright, but any additional content is. This may be a reason
why phone books now contain a lot more than the basic directory listings. 

The Internet has another aspect that is significant in the discussion of
content. Everything in it is there because someone else thinks it is
interesting. Sometimes when doing research, I have found that not enough
other people had an interest in what I was looking for, for it to be there.
It also operates in the present tense. Old library stacks can be more
rewarding, because they may include what someone thought was interesting
once. If someone once published a directory and then went out of business,
copies of the directory may survive and remain useful. If it was in a web
site that went bust, it goes away permanently and instantly once the plug
is pulled. 

Also the ease of copying computerised data without even reading it has led
to endless replication of the same old info everywhere--as ][<en
discovered, the recycling never stops. Once something was put out there, it
can't be taken back. I'm not surprised that his info has been stolen and
used to create other lists. 

Don White

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>