Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2003 15:55:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Lee Strong is finished!
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

At the meeting two days ago, I reported that this weekend Wade and I
would finish off Lee Strong.  I then clarified that I meant that we
would put the last (i.e. first) two of the 53 WSFA Journals online
that he had edited.

This has been done.  Note that the earliest issue (June 1990) contains
a birth announcement of someone who had an article in the latest one
(July/August 2003).

Also, I figured out who "SDN" is.  Sort of.  Her name is written
out in full in earlier issues:  "Sue Doe Nimh".  I have a sneaking
suspicion that this may not be her true name.

I also reported the following:

I've noticed that some of the Journals contain articles and cartoons
snipped from various magazines and newspapers.  I don't think we
always got copyright clearance first.  It was never a concern, since I
can't imagine Science News saying "John Smith would have subscribed to
our magazine, except that he knew if he simply waited fifteen years
for the web to be invented, he could read one of our thousands of
articles online for free at your website, therefor we're suing you
for ten dollars".

However, on July 16th congressmen John Conyers Jr., (D-Mich.) and
Howard Berman (D-Calif.) introduced the "Author, Consumer, and
Computer Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003" (ACCOPS Act)
which would make this a federal felony, punishable by five years per
transgression.  If I'm reading it correctly, it would also apply to
fan fiction.  Write a story featuring Kirk, R2D2, or Frodo, place it
on the web, go straight to jail.

I suggested (or at least intended to suggest) that people who,
unlike me, can keep their temper while writing to their so-called
representatives please do so.  I also suggested that IF this bill
looks like it's about to pass, that one or more members volunteer to
carefully go through all the back issues and identity what we do and
do not have copyright clearance for, and exactly which of the one
thousand, three hundred and eighty seven articles, and one thousand,
two hundred and six images we have online would need to be taken down.

My report resulted in a motion, which passed.  I'll leave it to Sam to
report what that said.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
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