Mills@UDEL.EDU (10/31/88)
Van, With all due respect and sympathy for trade-rag misquote, I would like very much to dissuade anybody using these widely read distribution lists from copyrighting messages. Interpreted narrowly, they can't be replied to (copyrighted header), forwarded to a student, archived or duplicated, electronically or otherwise. The tcp-ip list itself has a duplication policy which has been explicitly repeated from time to time (can this be done again, please) for exactly the reason that caused your pique. While I can paraphrase that policy here, I would rather the NIC resend the exact wording. Meanwhile, if you must copyright anything sent to this or other electric reproduction machine, please specify exactly your interpretation of fair use; that is, whether reproduction is permitted electronically, on paper, whether the header is included and whether limited reproduction is permitted for educational purposes. I would assume that, legally, this specification would have to appear on every message. Dave
van@HELIOS.EE.LBL.GOV (Van Jacobson) (11/01/88)
Dave & Dan - You're right. I was stupid to put a copyright notice in a mail message and I'm grateful to you guys for pointing it out. I realized I'd made a mistake shortly after sending the message (as usual, just a few minutes too late). I was composing that message shortly after seeing an extract from an earlier message in "the media". It had been taken out of context and appeared to say the opposite of what I had actually said. The surrounding text gave the impression that the quote was taken from an interview (which, of course, it wasn't). When I called to complain about the misrepresentation, I was told that attributing public statements to an "interview" was a standard journalistic practise as was excerpting uncopyrighted statements made in a public forum. I guess the "uncopyrighted" stuck in my mind. So, my apologies to all & never again (I hope -- there's this problem that the only time it's easy to write is when I'm steamed -- If I wasn't distracted by some annoyance, I'd be working on something new rather than writing about something old. I guess that's why the guidelines say "let it sit for a day before sending".) Thanks again for pointing out the problem. - Van