Keeping up with intellectual property law pointed me to this:
The Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act. This is a seemingly harmless bit of legislation aimed at protecting people's hard work - but it could be used to eventually close to the public a large amount of information that is now freely accessible online. I won't go into a total information is the right of man to his own self tirade... but I will point to the direction of Public Knowledge.org's Public Action to send a fax to your Representative and Committee Leadership, telling them why they should oppose H.R. 3261.
Link awareness through Copyfight.org
Other must reads through Electronic Frontier Federation
Comments
I reported on similar legislation that has been enacted in the E.U. in a class almost a year ago. I knew it'd only be a matter of time before legislation would be proposed here as well. Personally, I think the work of database creators should be considered intellectual property, as much as the data in it is, but I'm going to reserve any further comment until I can read the actual bill.
Posted by: michael | February 10, 2004 04:04 PM
By the way, here is the full text of the bill:
H.R.3261 - Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act
Posted by: michael | February 10, 2004 04:16 PM
Michael, that link to the full text is not connecting.
I suppose I am closer to the side of the argument which might be considered 'radical.' You probably know that type of person, we like to steal music and share software. I don't think copyrights serve the interests of anyone except those people who want to make a profit.
However, I obviously understand the benefits of ownership, as owners can invest profit back into projects. There are many questions about this, and no sure direction. Uncertainty remains; and I would like to know more about this bill. I will hold off any more discussion until further review.
Posted by: t_l | February 13, 2004 11:26 AM