From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: The Schedule of Classes
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 17:37:07 GMT

morgan@engr.uky.edu (Wes Morgan) writes:

[...]
>*Tons* of public information is routinely controlled by
>administrations.  You can get the UK salary list <we're state
>employees, after all>, but you have to sign for it and pay the
>copying costs.

As far as I know Eric would have been willing to sign for the
information and pay for copying costs.

In any case, Berkeley's attempt controls were much broader; they tried
to restrict access to the information because they didn't approve of
how they thought it would be used.

(Here at U. of Illinois, salary information is in the library.)

[...]
>You can get the US Census data, but there are bureaucratic procedures
>to be observed.

I can get census information (from CD ROMS) at the library. Also, I've
never heard of a US administration restricting access to census
information because they didn't approve of how they thought it would
be used.

>The US government routinely classifies "public information" as "For
>Official Use Only", "Confidential", "Secret", "Top Secret", et
>cetera.

The class schedule is not classified.

[...]
>This discussion prompted me to examine the UK Schedule of Classes
>more carefully.  Guess what I found on page 3?

>	(C) 1992, University of Kentucky

The Supreme Court recently affirmed that noncreative collections of
facts (e.g. the white pages of the phone book) are not copyrightable.
I don't believe that a class schedule qualifies for copyright.

>I don't know the copyright status of UCB's Schedule, but I would
>hazard a guess that it would change the situation somewhat, eh?
[...]

If class schedules qualified for copyright protection, if Berkeley and
State of California policy allowed copyrights to be claimed on things
like class schedules, if Berkeley actually claimed a copyright on the
class schedule, and if Eric's request had been denied on copyright
grounds, then yes, indeed, that would be a very different situation.

[...]
>Give us a break, Carl.  What good would it do to throw online
>copies to whomever wanted them (or throw one up for anonymous
>FTP), if those copies will be obsolete within a day?
[...]

This is not for a unit of government to decide. The government *does*
sometimes have grounds to restrict information (e.g. privacy, national
security). None of those grounds apply here.

[...]
>Do you acknowledge that: 

>	- The Schedule of Classes is an important document for students?
yes
>	- The accuracy of such a document is essential to its proper and
>	  efficient use?
yes
>	- The Registrar's Office is obliged to ensure its accuracy?

NO, the government has no authority to restrict otherwise public
information on these grounds. If it did, it would be able to restrict
*all* government information.

[...]
>I don't know why hh is only confronted with charges of "hardware misuse";
>perhaps he should be <somewhat> grateful that he doesn't face charges such 
>as disregarding instructions of University staff in performance of their 
>duties <he asked permission and was refused, for the very reasons I've 
>stated.> 
[...]

I don't believe he was instructed not to download the data himself.

- Carl
-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =