Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken!bert.llnl.gov!howell
From: howell@bert.llnl.gov (Louis Howell)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Publications (was Re: Musing on Constitutionality)
Message-ID: <1990Sep7.091041@bert.llnl.gov>
Date: 7 Sep 90 16:10:41 GMT
References: <11503@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <82778@aerospace.AERO.ORG> <11521@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <1990Sep3.182712.2260@world.std.com> <11548@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <12945@paperboy.OSF.ORG> <11608@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> <55@hyprion.ddmi.com> <11622@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV
Reply-To: howell@bert.llnl.gov (Louis Howell)
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lines: 37

In article <11622@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>, spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
writes:
|> I'm not trying to exclude anything.  I'm trying to find out if someone
|> *knows* (not believes or hopes for) the legal definition of what makes
|> something a publication.  Further discussion on the topic is largely
|> meaningless otherwise.
|> 
|> [...]
|> 
|> I claim that I see a difference between a sheet run off on an
|> irregular basis in a basement and the NY Times.  I didn't claim it
|> deserves any less protection under the 1st (nor did I claim it
|> deserved the same -- I just said I see a difference).  I then asked if
|> there is a legally defined difference, and if there is a legal
|> definition of exactly what consititutes a publication.  I'm still
|> waiting for a definitive answer.  Personal attacks do not constitute
|> an informed answer. :-)

Why does it matter?  If somehow something doesn't "qualify" as a publication,
due to small print run, no subscribers, passed out free, etc., then it
becomes a question of free speech rather than free press.  Does it really
make a difference whether I make one copy and invoke freedom of speech,
or make 50 copies and invoke freedom of the press?  Last time I heard,
both were mentioned in the First.  Who cares where we put the dividing
line on what is really a continuous spectrum?

I'm not saying there are no or should be no legal differences in other areas
such as copyright law.  This is strictly a question of freedom from
government intrusion.

--
Louis Howell

  "A few sums!" retorted Martens, with a trace of his old spirit.  "A major
navigational change, like the one needed to break us away from the comet
and put us on an orbit to Earth, involves about a hundred thousand separate
calculations.  Even the computer needs several minutes for the job."