Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!herald.usask.ca!lowey
From: lowey@herald.usask.ca (Kevin Lowey,159 Physics,(306) 966-4826,(306) 249-3232)
Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Subject: Re: Is the Information the User's? (was _RFC on my "abuse"_)
Message-ID: <1991Jun27.143334.16041@herald.usask.ca>
Date: 27 Jun 91 14:33:34 GMT
References: <pmoloney.678021102@unix1.tcd.ie>
Sender: lowey@herald.usask.ca (Kevin Lowey)
Reply-To: lowey@herald.usask.ca
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Lines: 50

From pmoloney@unix1.tcd.ie (Paul Michael Moloney):
> 
> That last line is interesting. I don't know much about law, but I've heard 
> it claimed, at least in Ireland, that copyright exists on something you've 
> written the moment you write it. So keeping files of writing from a user is 
> in effect illegal. So should a sysadmin at least give a user whose account 
> has been suspended some way of retrieving their files, at least hard copies 
> of them?

First, I'm not a lawyer, so don't believe a word of this message #8-)

While it is true that once something is written, it is covered by copyright,
that doesn't necessarily mean the person that wrote it is the copyright
owner.  For example, the following is part of my contract with the University:

1. The Member of Staff hereby assigns and agrees to assign to The University
   all his rights to all discoveries or inventions, whether patentable
   or not, which he may hereafter make or conceive during the period of his
   employment at the university and relating directly or indirectly to the
   scientific or other scholorly work upon which he is engaged at the 
   University or arising out of such work; except that the disposition of any
   such discoveries or inventions which may arise directly from any sponsored
   research or project carried on under a contract or an agreement approved
   by The University shall be determined by the terms of the said contract
   or agreement.

This is pretty loose, just talking about inventions coming from research.
However, I'm sure a lot of companies in highly competitive business, such
as the telephone/communications industry, have much more restrictive
terms in their contract.  

Basically, it boils down to me signing over all my rights to anything I 
produce using University equipment.  The computer is supposed to be used
for doing research (or in my case work to support researchers and staff). 
Thus, everything on the computer should belong to the University, and I have
no rights to those files once I've left the University.  

Technically, I probably don't even have the rights to take the files with me
when I go.  For example, lets say I'm moving to another University.  I 
produced the MS-DOS course notes, overheads, and handout.  These are all 
stored in files on my computer.  However, the University owns the copyright
on these files, so I cannot take them with me to another University for
use in their MS-DOS course.

Whether that applies to personal mail, or alt.sex.pictures binaries #8-) 
is the question.  I'm sure the university could make the case that EVERYTHING
on the computer belongs to them, because the computer is there for me to 
do my job.  Anything not relating to the job doesn't belong there anyway.

- Kevin Lowey