From: "franklin e. bliss" <frank@blissnet.com>
Reply-To: frank@blissnet.com
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: PDF request
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:26:07 -0600
But anyone can go to a library and make a photo-copy for their own use
(fair use). Seems somehow out of balance doesn't it? This fair use
ability needs to be extended to the internet. There is a definite move
toward more free transmission of intellectual property. Many musical
bands self-promote by giving away free songs. Itunes sells any use songs
for $1.20 US versus $0.99 cent limited use songs. There are ways of
dealing with the technology, but there is just not a universal clearing
house of paleontological information available yet. Some one needs to
develop an "itunes" for paleontologica. I am not talking about the 20
bucks (or more) a year that one journal might charge, but the $0.99 cents
a .pdf kind of thing. More of a SCITUNES (I now own the right to that
word!).
Frank (Rooster) Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming
www.wyomingdinosaurs.com
On Aug 17, 2007, at 8:12 PM, Jeff Hecht wrote:
At 9:26 AM +1000 8/18/07, Dann Pigdon wrote:
Publishers need to make a living. If they didn't, they couldn't publish.
Sending PDFs about willy-nilly is the equivalent of illegal music or
movie downloads. I'm all for online journals making their own
publications freely available after a certain amount of time, but if
someone pays for a PDF and them distributes it for free, they're
breaking the law.
Writers also need to make a living, but the usual interpretation of
copyright law is a bit more nuanced. What gets publishers seriously
annoyed is posting copyrighted material openly on the Internet for free
distribution. Passing a single copy of a PDF to a colleague, or a copy to
someone who asked for one, is not an issue. Openly asking if anybody
wants copies and then supplying them is questionable (shady area of the
law, and interpretations may differ). Requesting a single copy from a
colleague is not.
Likewise, posting whole news reports without permission is not
legitimate. However, nobody objects to posting abstracts freely - most
publishers with on-line editions post the abstracts freely but make full
copies available only to paid subscribers, or for an article fee.
Keep in mind that I personally have scanned articles and created PDFS
for other people (articles I've payed for), so I'm certainly guilty of
breaking a few 'minor' copyright laws in the past (and I'll probably do
it again). I'm just surprised that an email list would allow it. I'd
have thought it was up there with breaking emargoes or conducting Ad
Hominem attacks.
You raise an important point -- it is not wise to offer copies on a
mailing list, particularly one that is archived on the Net. But asking
off-line is not inappropriate. It's also nice when people who have the
permission of publishers (or are publishing on open- access journals) post
copies of their own research papers on their web site, so fellow
researchers can access them. And anyone can scan and post PDFs of
out-of-copyright publications.
--
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
jeff@jeffhecht.com http://www.jeffhecht.com
525 Auburn St., Auburndale, MA 02466 USA
v. 617-965-3834; fax 617-332-4760