RWC102@PSUVM (R. W. F. Clark) (02/08/89)
In <7650@chinet.chi.il.us> patrick@chinet.UUCP (Patrick A. Townson) says: > >What if someone, like a backbone administrator for example, were to cull >through the messages on the entire net over a two year period -- including >messages in r.h.f., and then publish something called "The Best of >Usenet Messages" -- and claim compilation copyright based on the several >hours he had to labor each week getting his machine to work properly in >handling news? Would you like that? > Well, under recent copyright laws, it would seem that USEnet articles are distributed with an implied copyright which would disallow redistribution for profit. Further take into account the many posters who place copyright notices at the ends of their postings. Such a person would presumably be required to get the permission of every person whose postings he culled, or risk the first class-action lawsuit filed by a large group of USEnet posters. However, the act of sending a joke to rec.humor.funny implies that the sender has no objection to the distribution of the joke. This analogy rates a good five milligillies. fc allegra!psuvax1!psuvm.BITNET!rwc102
emv@a.cc.umich.edu (Ed Vielmetti) (02/08/89)
2 small items of info. Computerworld Feb 6 p 16 sez "Stanford scraps racist-labeled Unix joke service." The anti-funny squad is Ralph Gorin, director of academic information resources at Stanford, and Cliff Johnson, manager of capacity planning at the Stanford Data Center. The pro-funny squad is led by John McCarthy, professor of computer science, who is asking the U to restore the feed "in the tradition of academic freedom." Computerworld did its usual botch of unix stuff by referring to the newsgroup as a "file". Small question re compilation copyright -- if I read r.h.f. and pull out the really funny stuff and repost it to another group, can I claim a second compilation copyright? Can I publish a book with this info in it? -- Edward Vielmetti, U of Michigan Computing Center
ramsey@polya.Stanford.EDU (Ramsey W. Haddad) (02/09/89)
In article <8662@mailgw.cc.umich.edu> emv@mailgw.cc.umich.edu (Ed Vielmetti) writes: >Computerworld Feb 6 p16 sez "Stanford scraps racist-labeled Unix joke service." >The anti-funny squad is Ralph Gorin, director of academic information resources >at Stanford, and Cliff Johnson, manager of capacity planning at the Stanford >Data Center. The pro-funny squad is led by John McCarthy, professor of computer >science, who is asking the U to restore the feed "in the tradition of academic >freedom." The rational they are spouting for the cutoff is the conjunction of three issues: (1) The newsgroup serves no educational function. (2) At a time when the University is trying to reduce racial friction, it does not want to allow its resources to be used for racially offensive jokes. (3) The newsgroup does not in and of itself provide a forum where issues about offensive jokes can be discussed. We are still hopeful that we will be able to reverse this stupid decision. McCarthy already has over 100 signatures of protest and is working within the system to have the decision overturned. The cutoff only effects AIR managed computers (coursework and administration). Departmental computers are still receiving r.h.f. Thus, I am reposting the group to a Stanford-wide newsgroup that reaches the effected machines. (I assume Brad knows about this, since he has read/written a couple of messages on that bboard. He has not complained. (Poor guy, he has two major fights on his hand at the same time.)) There has been no apparent attempt by the administration to cut off the reposted messages. Incidentally, it looks like Gorin is just being the loyal soldier: taking the spear in the chest and giving his boss (Robert Street) plausible deniability. Another interesting aspect: the cutoff was not triggered by a complaint from a Stanford reader of the group. Rather, someone (who opposes the cutoff) merely pointed out the original r.h.f controversy as a topic of conversation. Things mushroomed. -- Ramsey W Haddad
mcglk@blake.acs.washington.edu (Ken McGlothlen) (02/09/89)
In article <8662@mailgw...> emv@mailgw.cc.umich.edu (Ed Vielmetti) writes: +---------- | Computerworld Feb 6 p 16 sez "Stanford scraps racist-labeled Unix joke | service." The anti-funny squad is Ralph Gorin, director of academic | information resources at Stanford, and Cliff Johnson, manager of capacity | planning at the Stanford Data Center. The pro-funny squad is led by John | McCarthy, professor of computer science, who is asking the U to restore the | feed "in the tradition of academic freedom." | [...] | | Edward Vielmetti, U of Michigan Computing Center +---------- Ah, yes. Ralph Gorin, famed author of a definitive SNOBOL text, and the man who was slapped on the wrist for going through students' e-mail some years ago. You know, that doesn't surprise me a bit. Last time I checked, "academic freedom" wasn't even in his vocabulary. Looks like Mr Gorin is overreacting as usual. --Ken McGlothlen mcglk@blake.acs.washington.edu
diamond@csl.sony.JUNET (Norman Diamond) (02/14/89)
In article <8662@mailgw...> emv@mailgw.cc.umich.edu (Ed Vielmetti) writes: > +---------- > | Computerworld Feb 6 p 16 sez "Stanford scraps racist-labeled Unix joke > | service." The anti-funny squad is Ralph Gorin, director of academic > +---------- In article <825@blake.acs.washington.edu>, mcglk@blake.acs.washington.edu (Ken McGlothlen) writes: > Ah, yes. Ralph Gorin, famed author of a definitive SNOBOL text, and > the man who was slapped on the wrist for going through students' e-mail > some years ago. The definitive Snobol text was written by Ralph Griswold. I don't believe he has expressed any opposition to rec.humor.funny, nor that he has been accused of going through other people's e-mail. Perhaps Mr. McGlothlen should apologize to Mr. Griswold.