Thanks for providing that perspective Gary. Seems reasonable.
On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 6:53 PM Gary Weber <[email protected]> wrote: > To everyone with any concern about the M100SIG "NoVan" issue, I'm posting > the following. > > After I was in direct communication with Wilson Van Alst back in the mid > 2000s, I had replaced my downloadable copy of the M100SIG archive on > Web8201 with the "NoVan" version that John graciously put together. But > after several conversations with various people on the subject many years > later, including Rick Hanson before his passing on the subject, I made the > decision to put the original archive back in place on Web8201, and I do > intend to keep it that way. > > To Steve and some others, I know you feel differently about this, and I > figure I should at least share with you my perspective. There is one > primary justification for my feelings on this subject: All of the files > from the M100SIG, including Wilson's contributions, were available publicly > and free to download by anyone with an internet connection and without any > account login for a number of years on CompuServe.com. > > You see, after the demise of the CompuServe paid service, they still > allowed you to just visit compuserve.com and visit the "archived" areas > of all of the special interest group areas, including M100SIG, and download > any of the files there, for free, without any login. I did it myself in > fact, many times. There was no need to login with an account, and there > was no required acceptance of a licensing agreement. They were simply > downloadable, for free, with no binding agreement and with no account. > > CompuServe was basically allowing the public full access to the ENTIRE > special interest group archive. I even brought that up with Wilson > directly via an email exchange, but he declined to comment about this > specific fact. So any argument about "Commercial Software" is > inconsequential at this point. > > Since the files were available publicly on compuserve.com, they have > every right to be available on any website, including archive.org as > well. There is no legal issue with redistribution given they were > available publicly on compuserve.com before it eventually went away. And > on the topic of ethics, I would argue that the long-standing feud between > Wilson & Rick was about the only thing that caused Wilson to put up a stink > about the files to begin with, and any question of the ethics of > redistribution of Wilson's stuff that was PUBLICLY AVAILABLE already is > pretty baseless. > > Gary Weber > Web 8201 > > > On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 9:17 AM Brian K. White <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> On 5/26/20 12:10 PM, Stephen Adolph wrote: >> > That is what I said, yes. I simply and politely asked if you >> (supposing >> > it was you that posted it) could do something about it. >> > >> > So I will ask again, politely. >> > >> > Can and will anything be done about it? As I have said, I think, if >> > possible, that the M100SIG should be removed from the internet archive. >> >> I posted it. >> >> It's the same as the copy Gary has been hosting on web8201 forever and >> still today. >> >> I don't know if I can take it back down, but I assume I can, or that I >> can at least ask. >> >> I am answering politely that I don't know yet whether I will try. >> >> -- >> bkw >> > > > -- > Gary Weber > [email protected] >
