Listowners-L Archives

Archiver > Listowners > 1999-03 > 0920336570


From: "Steven J. Coker" <>
Subject: Re: Waived Copyrights and Public Domain
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 20:02:50 -0500


> Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 00:30:58 -0500
> From: (Linnea Miller)
>
> Steven, .... I would seriously consider moving
> your archives to Rootsweb since they now have the space and software for
> searching threaded archives....

I've read statements posted here about the status of the Rootsweb threaded web
archives. As I've understood those statements, the threaded web archives at
Rootsweb are still in the development stage. They are currently being tested,
again. They have not been officially announced to the masses and are not yet
finished and ready. Making a major commitment to change archiving services
before a system is fully functional seems premature to me. I also do not know
of a facility for transferring the past archives, only the current and future
ones. And, I have many web pages that will have to be completely re-written if
I make such a change. This isn't a trivial or easy commitment for me. It will
require a tremendous amount of my time and work. However, I've enrolled my
forums to the test program and will make any decisions I feel appropriate in due
time.

> Your quotes from the copyright law sound very convincing ...

The quotes I posted were not from the copyright laws. They were from Title 18
and Title 47 of the US Code of Laws. Copyright laws are given in Title 17.

> do not believe you are the provider of "an electronic communication service
> to the public" - Rootsweb holds that "honor"....

Well, I think that you are wrong. I operate non-profit service organizations
registered with the State of South Carolina. They are "services" as that term
is defined and used in the law.

Rootsweb is providing a service to the Listowners. The Listowners are providing
a service to their subscribers. This arrangement provides Rootsweb with a legal
liability buffer. It is the Listowner (i.e. the service provider) who is
directly liable to the subscribers for the content of the service, not
Rootsweb. By law, every Listowner is providing an electronic communication
service, whether they like it or not.

When a subscriber joins one of my forums, they are subscribing to services
offered and managed by my service organization. They must comply with the
policies set forth by my service organization. The services provided by my
service organizations fall within the definitions of "information services", and
"electronic communication services" and "electronic messaging services" as those
terms are defined in the law. These definitions are as follows:

The term "electronic communication service" means any service which provides to
users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic
communications;...

The term "electronic messaging services" means software-based services that
enable the sharing of data, images, sound, writing, or other information among
computing devices controlled by the senders or recipients of the messages.

The term "information services" means the offering of a capability for
generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing,
or making available information via telecommunications; and includes -

(i) a service that permits a customer to retrieve stored information from, or
file information for storage in, information storage facilities;

(ii) electronic publishing; and

(iii) electronic messaging services; but does not include any capability for a
telecommunications carrier's internal management, control, or operation of its
telecommunications network.

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