Tim May writes:

Mark Henderson writes:

...

Forgive the somewhat commercial nature of this message, but I think it is well within the lines of the cypherpunks mission of getting code out to people.

I'm considering the possibility of producing a CD (for distribution in North America only) of crypto source code, information/papers and binaries for common platforms. ...[BUNCH OF STUFF DELETED]......

You'll have to be real careful here, as charging money means copyrights have to be more scrupulously watched than when sites just "informally" contain copyrighted material. (I'm not arguing for these laws, just noting them.) ...[ANOTHER BUNCH OF STUFF DELETED]...... (There are lots of issues here, which get debated over and over again in various forums. All I'm saying is that charging $50 for a compilation of articles, FAQs, scanned items, etc. is likely to trigger a lot of things. Just a heads up.)

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--Tim May -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Wouldn't doing something like this be like distributing shareware on a CD-Rom? Most of the Rom's I've seen have programs and the like, but a few have had source code, papers, hypercard stacks, etc. that were all copyrighted but still pushed out on the Rom. I think the only problem would be if you were charging more money than a "reasonable duplication fee". Most people will agree that this would be the cost of the media and maybe a little something for your time. Just another of my 0.02¢... Adam Gerstein "After this, nothing will shock me." ---------- "In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps. When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it." - Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 4, 1994 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To sign on to the letter, send a message to: Clipper.petition@cpsr.org with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes). You will receive a return message confirming your vote.