[A83] Re: The fuzz at ticalc.org
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[A83] Re: The fuzz at ticalc.org
Unless something is public domain, it is copyrighted. I can release
software under a license like BSD or MIT, which gives someone almost
unlimited rights to it, but I still hold the copyright on it. The only way
to not hold copyright on something is to release it into the public domain,
which by definition is "the status of publications, products, and processes
that are not protected under patent or copyright".
IANAL, but I think that ticalc.org screwed up big time by going through and
approving files. Common carrier laws for ISP and hosting providers allow
the provider to get away with having copyrighted or illegal materials, if
they are removed when they are notified of the violation. As an example,
one of the things my employer does is web hosting. If we were to make
searches for things like warez or kiddie porn, then we would then be liable
for anything that was hosted on our servers. There isn't any possible way
to catch everything, so you don't do any searches. If someone notifies us
of the violation, we then take action.
I don't see why they didn't just release a snapshot of their archives as
exactly that. The same disclaimers on the website would apply to the
snapshot. The only possible issue I see with this is programs that place
terms on being distributed in collections or on media. This used to be
common back in the BBS days. Authors would allows their program to be
placed on a shareware collection cd if they received a copy of the cd. I
don't know if any of the programs on ticalc.org's archives fall under this
category, and they probably don't either. However, I wonder if there is a
distinction between a cd that is specifically a collection and a cd that is
a snapshot of the website. An offline copy of the website might be
different (again, IANAL). hpcalc.org used to offer cd's for sale that were
copies of the site. As a layperson, this seems different than a cd's like
ticalc.org's that is a collection taken from the website (I haven't opened
by cd, so I am guessing that it is like that).
I won't pretend that I understand all the issues here. ticalc.org's method
for creating the cd could have been dictated by TI. But, then why would
they be responsible? I have had these thoughts since they first announced
the cd project. Perhaps they just didn't get any legal advice and are now
in trouble for it. I wish them luck, as legal trouble is usually not fun.
> Do you really think ticalc would remove all copyrighted material from
> their website? I think its most likely racist or adult material. Another
> possibility is violence but how violent could a calcgame get? I can't
imag=
> ine
> a parent complaining about copyright infringement.
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