Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucsd!pacbell.com!lll-winken!grover.llnl.gov!howell From: howell@grover.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: OUTLAW ALL DATABASES!! Damn right! Message-ID: <86918@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> Date: 29 Nov 90 01:45:15 GMT References: <7425@hub.ucsb.edu> <5140@rsiatl.UUCP> Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV Reply-To: howell@grover.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lines: 41 Nntp-Posting-Host: grover.llnl.gov In article , steve@Advansoft.COM (Steve Savitzky) writes: |> Hmm. Only one thing seems to be needed to give control over our data |> back to us: a determination that a person owns the copyright to the |> data collected about him or her. Bingo! instant control. I don't think I'd like the implications if copyright were extended to this point. The basic idea behind copyright is that the arrangement of information, not the information itself, is protected. The exceptions to this are really pretty minor. The "derived works" idea is most broadly interpreted when dealing with some of the world building aspects of fiction, particularly characters, where the emphasis is still clearly on material created in the mind of the artist. The current fuss over look-and-feel copyrights is more of the same---it is still a question of just what elements of a created work deserve protection. Copyrighting INFORMATION, however, is another can of worms entirely. I am not in any sense the author of my income, my credit rating, or my age. I did have a role in determining my address and the ages of my children, but many other factors were also involved. I did not decide my own SSN, or my telephone number, or even my name. What right, then, should I have to copyright these things? I'd have a better chance copyrighting the boiling point of some new organic solvent, if I were the only person to have measured it directly! I'm sorry, I can't tell you my phone number, Pac Bell has the copyright! This does not rule out other protections for personal information, but I don't think copyright is the tool for the job. Another thought: Could a regulation forbidding companies from publishing personal data be considered an infringement of the freedom of the press? I can see it now---a convicted murderer is running for office, and the newspapers can't tell us because that's his own personal information! -- 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."