archiving on inet

Jim Nitchals jimn8 at netcom.com
Tue Feb 1 16:30:45 PST 1994


> 
> This is not an accurate comparison. A posting on usenet is not the same 
> item as a program on HBO or the radio. In what way does my internet provider 
> (netcom) have a "legal" distribution of usenet news, while a cd-rom 
> provider does not?

I've already said it.  I own the copyright to my posts, and only permit
them to be distributed by Usenet because I can *cancel* and provide
expiration dates with my posts.  CD-ROMs do not provide these standard
Usenet message control features.

If I issue a cancel message, it's obvious that I'm asserting control
over the further distribution of my content (sites that ignore them
notwithstanding.)  Any time a CD-ROM is published with my message, and
it contains an expiration date or is later cancelled, the publication
violates my right as a copyright holder to retract my message.

[portions deleted]                         >  No providers of usenet news
> have any agreements between themselves and the posters regarding 
> copyrights. Netcom and all the other internet providers receive postings 
> "free" and a cd-rom manufacturer has the same "right" to use postings as 
> any other internet provider.

My expiration dates or cancel messages are perfectly reasonable ways
to communicate the way in which I'm exercising my copyright.  Netcom
and other service providers currently honor those communications, but
CD-ROM publishers of Usenet news do not.
> 
> Kirk Sheppard
> 
> kshep at netcom.com
> 
> P. O. Box 30911             "It is  Better to Die on Your Feet Than to 
> Bethesda, MD 20824-0911      Live On Your Knees."
> U.S.A.
> 			    			     - Emiliano Zapata
> 





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