This is an interesting issue that has affected
me personally.  A while back someone I know
at the University sent me an email and said
how disappointed they were with a post I'd
made about the city council's position on the
war.  The funny thing was that they don't
subscribe to the list, they'd read a copy of
my post in a liberal newsletter.  I had no
idea that my post had been published.

As I understand the law (the attorneys are 
free to correct me), you retain commercial 
rights to all of your original works,
regardless if they are formally copyrighted
or not.  And, regardless of how public your
words are you can still copyright them.  Didn't
anyone see the 60 Minutes special about Dr. King's
"I Have a Dream" speech? His family holds the
rights.

The copyright laws also contain a "fair use" 
clause and I'm sure that quoting parts of a post 
is perfectly legitimate.

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park


TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Send all posts in plain-text format.
2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.

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