I wish I'd heard about this issue a few days ago, as I was just at a party at Brad's house on Saturday. At 1:27 PM -0700 8/19/97, Mike Duvos wrote:
They quote as their cite for this concept a piece by Brad Templeton, ClariNet owner, who apparently shares their view that links can constitute copyright infringement under certain circumstances. Fortunately, Brad does not restrict linking to the article in question, from which I offer the following tiny snippet under the "Fair Use" doctrine.
I, and many other people initially had the intuitive feeling that it could never be a violation of copyright to make a link to a web page. Of late, I've come to think that this might be wrong.
Now what CPAC objects to is people who post messages saying, essentially,
"Look at the silly CPAC people rant and froth. <Click Here>"
I would suggest that CPAC is a political organization, with a very well-defined social agenda, which I have every right to comment on, and that illustrative hyperlinks in my commentary constitute "Fair Use" of their content.
Am I on firm legal ground here?
I think so. Even quoting _blocks_ of someone's text is usually considered "fair use," and there have never, to my knowledge, been any cases in which a reference or pointer to a text was considered copyright infringement. References, as in bibliographies, are in fact just that, references or pointers. Saying "Go read Joseph Finder's "The Zero Hour"" is not an infringement of any sort. As for Web pages, it seems clear that the same logic applies. Someone who makes their material available to anyone who follows a link cannot object when someone else publishes that link, no matter in what context. So, I think Brad Templeton is clearly wrong. Though, in fairness to Brad, his views may be more nuanced than the brief excerpt above. This topic came up a couple of times on the Cyberia-l mailing list, with the consensus, as I recall, being that "of course" pointers and citations are not copyrightable. They fail all the tests of length, the reasons for copyright, etc. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."