QUAKER-ROOTS-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Copyright: A Lawyer's Answer
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 10:02:10 -0400 (EDT)

Just as an FYI--

The question of copyright law and postings on the Web just came up between me
and my book publisher, and we did, in fact get some answers from a copyright
lawyer. Specifically:

Strictly speaking, forwarding a posted e-mail from one list to another
without the author's permission is, in fact, a copyright violation. Now, I
know everyone does it, and for the most part no one minds having their
genealogy-related questions forwarded to another genealogy list. It's one of
those gray areas where, even though it's technically illegal, it's such
common practice that it's not likely to raise eyebrows or get anyone
prosecuted. (But as a matter of courtesy, if nothing else, you really should
ask.) BUT taking posted material from a newsgroup or mailing list and
publishing it somewhere else, like in a newsletter or magazine article or
even on your own Web page, without the author's permission, is much more
clearly illegal.

Context is important. While the copyright police are not going to bust down
your door over transerferring a note from the Quaker-Roots list to the
ROOTS-L list, consider the same action in a different context: Someone
forwards the e-mail comments of a politician or a prominent judge to
alt.sex.whips or the comments of a physician to a mailing list on pedophilia.
The same action that seems harmless to us could ruin the career of an
innocent person.

The bottom line is, if you're going to do anything with someone else's
comments and work, drop them a note and let them know. But don't worry too
hard about copyright violations; your current actions are not likely to land
you in court.

Laurie Palmer
.
p.s. -- The book I mentioned above is Searching for Cyber-Roots, a complete
beginner's guide to genealogical research on the Internet, due out from
Ancestry Publishing in June (or so).

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