Most respondents said they liked it as is. Almost all change suggestions came
from the small minority of respondents who elected not to sign, and thereby (in
my view) disqualified themselves from editorial participation. Therefore,
changes are minimal; the only large one is the addition of a paragraph
describing correct permissions procedure under the Berne Convention.
The second round of comment and signature collection will go for about another
week. At the end of that time, I will send the letter, unless I receive
change suggestions which I judge to be of sufficient weight to require a third
round.
This draft includes the current signature list. Only people who have
explicitly asked to be included are on it; I have not added anyone based only
on the content of their arguments on the issue.
If you wish to join, send me mail giving your name, your email address and the
names of the FAQs you maintain.
-------------------------------- CUT HERE -----------------------------------
DRAFT
Walnut Creek recently sent a notice to the faq-maintainers list announcing
its intent to include a snapshot of the FAQ archive on an upcoming CD-ROM.
The notice includes a form for a request not to have a FAQ included.
Many members of the faq-maintainers list are extremely disturbed by this
announcement. While we recognize that CD-ROM publication is a valuable
adjunct to network distribution, we consider Walnut Creek's action to be
unethical, illegal under the Berne Convention, and prejudicial to our
future rights in a way we cannot and will not ignore.
Our ethical objection is that the express wishes of many of the FAQ authors are
being ignored in this procedure. Many FAQs have copyrights requiring
publishers operating either off the Internet or for profit to seek permission
to publish the content. This requirement is not met by Walnut Creek's stated
intent to publish unless they receive an explicit request not to. Walnut Creek
has, under the terms of these copyrights, an affirmative obligation to seek
individual permission from each such author, and an obligation to *not* publish
if that permission is not obtained.
Our legal objection is that Walnut Creek's procedure and assumptions are
squarely in violation of the Berne Convention and U.S. copyright law, and is
part of a continuing pattern of infringement which constitutes an actionable
tort.
Even those of us who have elected to permit commercial distribution have
to be concerned that, if we did not object to this infringement, we might be
held through doctrine of laches to have lost our rights to control our own
materials.
And control is the key issue here. We do not propose to hold up Walnut
Creek for royalties; we recognize that the economics of the situation
would make that unreasonable. Walnut Creek's offer of a free CD-ROM to
every author who requests one would be fitting compensation, if compensation
were our sticking-point. It is not.
Nor do we, in general, object to CD-ROM distribution. We wrote these FAQs
to be used and enjoyed. We will be happy to cooperate with Walnut Creek or
any other publisher that demonstrates a good-faith effort to meet the
legal and ethical requirements we have outlined.
We are taking a stand for the right of FAQ authors to have their copyrights,
license terms, and intellectual property honored as fully and fairly as they
would be in any other medium.
We request that Walnut Creek amend its procedure to respect and protect the
right of FAQ authors to control the terms of distribution of their works. We
require that Walnut Creek immediately cease behaving in a manner that puts
these rights at legal risk. We hope that Walnut Creek will demonstrate its
good faith by working constructively with us on developing a permissions
procedure to help protect these rights.
Such a procedure would require Walnut Creek to check the copyright
notice and licence or waiver attached to each FAQ it proposes to
include. If the notices attached to the FAQ do not themselves permit
redistribution, or no notice at all is present, Walnut Creek must
contact the FAQ's author(s) to ask permission, and must not distribute
that FAQ until it has obtained such permission.
This note is a formal assertion of our rights at law. While a substantial
minority of us are angry enough to sue over the present situation, the list
as a whole hopes that negotiation will allow a repair of our relations with
Walnut Creek, and that we can work together in a way that will set precedents
beneficial to all parties.
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>
PC-Clone UNIX Hardware Buyer's Guide
"So You Want To Be A UNIX Wizard?"
Libertarianism FAQ
Neopaganism FAQ
The Hitchhiker's Guide to X386 Video Timings
Alex Lopez-Ortiz <alopez-o@barrow.uwaterloo.ca>
Frequently Asked Questions about Coffee and Caffeine
Frequently Asked Questions in Mathematics
How to do business in Mexico.
Ken Arromdee <arromdee@cs.jhu.edu>
video games FAQ
anime video games list
Willie Beegle <wcbst4+@pitt.edu>
GEOS FAQ for comp.os.geos and comp.os.msdos.pcgeos
Amy Gale <Amy.Gale@vuw.ac.nz>
rec.food.cooking FAQ
Mark Eckenwiler <eck@panix.com>
Legal Research FAQ pts 1 & 2
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances
Chris Lewis <clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca>
Crib and Cradle Safety Regulations
A Suggested Minimal Digest Format
How to become a Usenet site
comp.text Frequently Asked Questions
UNIX Email Software Survey FAQ
Electrical Wiring FAQ
Richard Mathews <richard@astro.west.sun.com>
rec.nude Site Report FAQ
Pat Berry <pat@berry.Cary.NC.US>
Red Dwarf FAQ
Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@shock.njit.edu>
comp.sys.mac.system FAQ
comp.sys.mac.wanted FAQ
comp.sys.mac.apps FAQ
comp.sys.mac.misc FAQ
comp.sys.mac.hardware FAQ
Larry Virden <lvirden@cas.org>
comp.lang.tcl faq
Lennart Regebro <Lennart.Regebro@scs.no>
Object-Fax LAN fax system FAQ
GammaLink intelligent fax board FAQ
Paola Kathuria <inetuk@arcglade.demon.co.uk>
Summary list of Internet access providers in the UK
George Pajari <pajari@Faximum.COM>
comp.dcom.fax
Gary Bourgois <flash@lopez.marquette.MI.US>
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SATELLITE TV FAQ
Rich Kulawiec <rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu>
The Annotated "American Pie"
SF-references-in-music list
Whitewater outfitter/dealer address list
Public Radio FAQ
Listing of open musical jam sessions
Mystery Science Theater 3000 FAQ
Music Equipment Mail/Phone List
rec.boats.paddle frequently asked questions and answers
Tom Limoncelli <tal@plts.org>
INN FAQ
David Barr <barr@pop.psu.edu>
Majordomo FAQ
-------------------------------- CUT HERE -----------------------------------
-- Eric S. Raymond <esr@locke.ccil.org> Temporary, we're having DNS trouble -> WWW: http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
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