From: forda@gtephx.UUCP (Andrew Ford @ AGCS, Phoenix, Arizona)
Subject: Re: What is "pay-per-read"?
Organization: gte
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 03:36:17 GMT

In article <23274@alice.att.com>, jj@alice.att.com (jj@alice.att.com, curmudgeon) writes:
> In article <E1LHJ07@taronga.com> peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
> >In article <23244@alice.att.com> jj@alice.UUCP (jj, old grump curmudgeon) writes:
> >>risk.  There was one example introduced where it was clear
> >>that the feed wasn't even clearing average costs as compared
> >>to e-mail, but you should't feel free to generalize.
> 
> >They are obviously clearing average costs or they would have shut it down by
> Peter, we know you have a problem with this, so why not stop the
> 99th edition of this argument.
> 
> You seem to ignore "... as compared to e-mail...".  
> 
> Face it, Peter, no matter what you claim,  copyright exists,
> and you're not free to do whatever with the articles
> that you allow to propigate to your computer.  
> 
> I find it surprising that so many computer professionals have so little
> regard for intellectual property when it's in bytes instead of paper.
> Especially since their livelihood depends on their like intellectual
> property.

For the 100th time:

Peter set up his computer to allow you, me, an' ever'body else to command
it to send our "works" all over the world via any machine connected to 
usenet: copyrights simply protect those outside usenet from using the work.

Now, if you could define usenet, CD-ROMs definitely would not be part
of the net, but face it, usenet started out between 2 computers and 
has been finding new and different ways to get to more computers ever 
since.  Many of those ways include fees.  CD-ROM technology offers 
two things: 

1.  It opens the door to a whole new group of computers which cannot
    connect to usenet via any of the old mechanisms (expanding the
    net to different formats of connectivity is not new, AND not all
    of the formats provide for two-way communication.)

2.  It provides those sites which have been archiving netnews for years
    a new, less costly medium with which to store data: the chief 
    difference being that one company has put up the capital to allow 
    the transfer to CD-ROM and is recouping that expense by selling 
    the archives.

Face it: you do not own usenet or the computers attached to it.
You are given permission to use all those computers which are 
attached to it.  Did you really thing you'd still be in charge
of everything just because you wrote a few of the words that
go through those computers?  Do you really think that there are
no conditions for your use of all those other people's computers?

You seem to have a good understanding of copyright law, now try
to get as good an understanding of the net.  (Hint, 
news.announce.newusers is a good place to start.  That group
contains postings which explain how and what the net is.  You
might want to look up the definition of "share," as usenet is
a means of sharing information.  You will find that one part
of sharing is giving.  Posting is the giving part: it is also
the price you pay for using resources on a bajillion computers
world-wide.)

-- 
"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the street with
no permit of any kind: some say it's crazy.  However, 4 out of 5 US murders are 
committed in the other half of the country: so who is crazy?"   -  Andrew Ford
gtephx!forda@enuucp.eas.asu.edu  OR  !uunet!samsung!romed!enuucp!gtephx!forda
Newsgroups: news.admin