Files in kdenonbeta/gadget

[Russell Miller]

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On Sunday 09 May 2004 12:52, Zack Rusin wrote:

> But it is OK for google to do the same but on a lot larger scale? I
> didn't get those files from any app, I got them from google cache which
> was mirroring them. Why do we have two standards all of a sudden?
>
Google is google and KDE is KDE.  Google's caches of these pages do not expose 
KDE to liability.  KDE hosting them on the server does.  Google can take care 
of themselves.

> Besides what makes you think that it's not OK to distribute those files?
> The copyright is there, they don't influence anything because they're
> not used by anything and all search engines are already distributing
> them.
>
Sorry, Zack, but I must disagree with you here (not as if anyone cares :).  
Hosting copyrighted files on a server without a valid license to do so is a 
cut-and-dried violation, and definitely exposes KDE to liability.  I 
personally think the copyright laws are way, way over the top - but my 
opinion doesn't matter.  If content (of whatever kind) is owned by someone, 
and they have not given you a license to distribute it, then hosting it is 
illegal and exposes whomever hosts it to liability.

The issue is not at all whether the files are used.  The issue is whether they 
have been copied.  Copying them from your server to CVS implies that they 
have been copied without authorization in violation of most countries' 
copyright law.  There's really no way around it.

- --Russell

- -- 

Russell Miller - rmiller at duskglow.com - Somewhere near Sioux City, IA.
Youth cannot know age, but age is guilty if it forgets youth
    - Professor Dumbledore
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