BOARD-L Archives

From: "Garnett J.(Joe) Zsedeny" <>
Subject: [BOARD-L] Copyright Law[Criminal and Civil]
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 14:35:24 -0500

I have been researching copyright law and how it relates to
email. I have sent several posts to our "private"
Executive-list but decided to share what I am finding with
our volunteers in order that they not unwittingly violate
the copyright laws.

First, email is protected under the copyright statute. Check
it out here:
http://www.benedict.com/basic/basic/scope.htm

Check out this URL:
http://www.benedict.com/news/headlines/headlines.htm and the
reference.

Reference:
SOURCE: Boardwatch Magazine, Vol. IX, Issue 5, May 1995

Here we find that the CRIMINAL copyright statute was used
against a BBS operator. Email wasn't in question here but
since email is covered under the law the same applies.

Then go to this URL:
http://www.benedict.com/news/headlines/headlines.htm

Reference:
SOURCE: Wired, Warez Wars, April, 1997

Here we are talking about civil law. The Software Publishers
Association (SPA) sued to show that ISP operators are
responsible for the content carried on their servers. They
stayed prosecution, which apparently means the other party
agreed to desist from the action.

So summing this up. Those who forward, receive, republish
and carry such on their server are all punishable under the
copyright statute, either criminal or civil. Now don't let
this scare you about forwarding innocent messages with no
desire to malign. But technically every message forwarded
requires the approval of the sender or list owner. Pirated
messages from closed lists or parts thereof, attached and
posted elsewhere without permission are actionable under
criminal and/or civil statute. The proof that this happened
resides in abundance on computers throughout the Project.

This Board, your Board, cannot be effective if it is
constantly held up to ridicule. The present members of this
Board have taken every opportunity to make our deliberations
open and available to our member volunteers. We endeavor to
answer every email and act on those with merit. I personally
have never failed to respond to a message which was sent in
an honest attempt to get an answer, whether from a
constituent or not. But I will not respond in the future to
messages whose only clear intent is to ridicule and down
grade this potentially wonderful Project for mean and small
reasons. I shall do all in my power, along with my fellow
Board members, to insure that the pirating of email on and
from the Board lists stops. If that means pursuing legal
action, so be it. In the future if someone wants to use
Board list materials for reprint or reposting I would
strongly suggest they get permission from our National
Coordinator, Tim Stowell.

Joe



--
Zsedeny Genealogy - http://www.rootsweb.com/~jzed/home.htm
NDGenWeb Archives -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nd/ndfiles.htm
Pembina County, ND -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ndpembin/pembina.htm
Ramsey County, ND -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ndramsey/ramsey.ht

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