Shane,
I think there are several principles at work here:
1. Amateurs are notorious for ignoring copyright and intellectual
property rights. We see it in the many ways, including:
1. "Pirated" radio programming software (I've even had amateurs
say they were "entitled" since they were volunteers!)
2. Reposting of copyrighted material to (multiple) mailing
lists. (Just send the URL)
3. Stealing content from one site to place on another. (As Pete
is observing.)
2. A website is designed to be used in a certain way. In this case
it is for individual, interactive users to access the information.
"Screen Scraping" on a regular basis puts load on the website
whether the information has new values or not, and impacts the
intended audience
3. As the author of this material, Pete should have a certain
expectation that one would get permission to reuse his information.
4. As to the data itself:
1. A station that sends GPS information into the network is
giving tacit approval to the collection and redistribution
of that data. (e.g. if you don't want it published broadly,
don't transmit it.)
2. When injected into the APRS data stream, there are several
feeds to parse it from with a published method for doing so
- http://www.aprs-is.net/Connecting.aspx (Pete, does the
D-PRS data get relayed to the APRS-IS data feeds?)
3. I, too, believe that the data should be available for others
to use in appropriate and creative ways, but it must be done
in a way consistent with protection of intellectual property
rights and copyright (e.g. don't steal other's work). I do
advocate for open source and free sharing within the amateur
community but that is the creator's choice, not the consumer's.
4. When the APRS-IS system was started, XML was not as
prevalent as it is now, and broadband connections were at
premium. An APRS-IS to XML bridge would be a nice feature
for someone to create and put in the public domain.
Personally, I think all common data for amateur radio should be
published in a set of XML standards and be freely available, including
mandatory publishing of all repeater coordinations (except control
codes), qsl databases, gps reporting, and call sign servers, with
advertised and well known web services to get at the data, but then I
may be a dreamer. :)
shaneblaser wrote:
>
> What is the concern? Is there an xml feed that makes the data available?
>
> Why not make the data available to all?
>
> Is it not better for dStar to have the dStar information used in as
> many ways as possible?
>
> --- In [email protected]
> <mailto:dstar_digital%40yahoogroups.com>, "Peter Loveall" <p...@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > I have noted that it appears there is automated screen scraping going
> > on against the jFindu repeater last heard page. Specifically, it
> > looks like someone has placed references to it in for the reflectors
> > in a page that refreshes every 2 minutes. This is not only poor and
> > inconsiderate practice but is illegal in the United States as the
> > pages carry a copyright notice and I have given NOBODY permission to
> > include jFindu content within non-jFindu pages.
> >
> > If you are the author of the page(s) that is(are) abusing jFindu,
> > please remove the page(s). If you know who the author is of the
> > offending page(s), please contact the author and have them remove the
> > page(s). If this abuse continues, I will remove the ability to
> > monitor activity on the reflectors via jFindu. I hope I won't have
> > to remove all of the dstar pages due to abuse.
> >
> > The same statements also apply to the dstarusers.org web site. These
> > sites are there for INTERACTIVE USER use, not automated screen
> > scrapes or pirating of pages in frames, etc. Thank you for your
> > consideration.
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > Pete AE5PL
> >
>
--
John D. Hays
Amateur Radio Station K7VE <http://k7ve.ampr.org>
PO Box 1223
Edmonds, WA 98020-1223
VOIP/SIP: [email protected] <sip:[email protected]>
Phone: 206-801-0820
801-790-0950
Fax: 866-309-6077
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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