jsaxon@cs.tamu.edu (James B Saxon) (12/21/90)
In article 8601 Ray Ryan of Lighthouse writes: >There has been some debate as to whether Lighthouse should be >distributing Usenet news posts. Please, if anyone in netland wants >his or her material removed from our disk, write me. We'll remove >your work and give you no hassle. Of course, you should be aware that >we aren't the only distributors of Usenet news. > >Ray Ryan >Lighthouse Design, Ltd. >rjrjr@lighthouse.com Hey Ray, I've got a better idea, why don't you e-mail all the people who are being "distributed". That way we will have a two way communication going. We'd all like to know how we've contributed! -- /-------------------------------------\ James Bennett Saxon.........|NM| | "I ought to join the club and beat | Scientific Vis. Laboratory..|eA| | you over the head with it." G. Marx | Texas A&M University........|XI| \-------------------------------------/ james@visual2.tamu.edu......|TL|
cnh5730@calvin.tamu.edu (Chuck Herrick) (12/25/90)
>In article 8601 Ray Ryan of Lighthouse writes: >>There has been some debate as to whether Lighthouse should be >>distributing Usenet news posts. Regarding Lighthouse selling news posts, it should be pointed out that in this democratic society of ours there exists a long-standing tradition of selling reproductions of the free and open expressions of others without their consent... newspapers, for example. Anyone with a nano-cubic-centimeter of functional brain cells can build quite a database/list of others in no time. In this relatively free and open democracy of ours, one which has managed to remain free despite the almost-constant diddling with free speech by neo-totalitarians, if you choose to express your opinions publicly you have implicitly offered those opinions to an open market place and those statements become, in a sense, public domain. The only obligation to you consists of proper attribution. Legally, Lighthouse should be under NO obligation to reimburse anyone or remove from their product any reproduction of anyone's publicly expressed opinions or thoughts. If Lighthouse feels it necessary to offer this, it is of course their option. I would, on the other hand, hate to see their offer be interpreted as manifest evidence of anyone's (non-existent) right to control their expressions after those expressions were offered in a public arena. Freedom of speech is not a priviledge, it is a right. Freedom to package and sell a legal product is not a priviledge, it is a right. -- _-_-_-_-_ -_-_-_-_-Chuck Herrick <cnh5730@calvin.tamu.edu> The opinions expressed herein are mine and are in no way attributed to any of the many people for whom I work. Who they are is irrelevant.