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From: joel@gould9.UUCP (Joel West)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Posting software from Compuserve
Message-ID: <821@gould9.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 11-Oct-86 11:57:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: gould9.821
Posted: Sat Oct 11 11:57:26 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 12-Oct-86 13:26:00 EDT
References: <812@gould9.UUCP> <8050@sun.uucp>
Organization: Western Software Technology, Vista, CA
Lines: 41

In article <8050@sun.uucp>, chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach; Lord of the OtherRealms) writes:
> According to CompuServe, the BBS operator was not sent the letter over
> public domain or shareware material, but over files that were copyrighted
> either by an author or by CompuServe that this BBS operator was downloading
> and redistributing without permission.
> 
> On top of this, the operator was making this material available on his BBS
> for a fee of $25 (i.e. he was out to profit on compuServe material) and he
> was advertising this BBS on CompuServe and telling people that this was
> an alternative to paying CompuServe for the material they were supplying.
> 
> The letter was sent after a number of authors who put copyrighted material
> on compuServe complained to them about the infringement.
> 
> InforWorld blew it.  They never bothered to call Neil Shapiro (SYSOP of
> MAUG on CompuServe) or CompuServe to check facts, they just published what
> the BBS operator said.  

I gather that Chuq has not checked the facts directly, but is willing to
take CompuServe's word as fact -- a dubious proposition, but I'll stipulate
it, since it really has no bearing on my point.

CompuServe did announce a policy of copyrighting what is on their system.  
It was sufficiently overbroad and vague to leave the policy ambiguous 
absent any enforcement efforts.  On this first real test of the policy,
it is unfortunate that InfoWorld did not get more information (violating 
the standard rule of Journalism 101.)

However, this still leaves unresolved the issue of whether CompuServe's
policy is fair, legal or viable.  (That I believe it is not was the point
of my one sentence.)  We won't know what their actual policy is until 
several enforcement efforts (or the absence of any enforcement efforts.)  
If a non-profit user group is selling pd disks for $6, will CompuServe 
go after them?  Or what if the same user group sells BBS memberships
for $20/year?  Either are certainly cheaper ways to get the software than 
downloading it at 1200 baud and $X/hour.
-- 
	Joel West			     MCI Mail: 282-8879
	Western Software Technology, POB 2733, Vista, CA  92083
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