Fw: Fair use: Framing as theft?

[Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM>]

Forwarded per Geoff's request:
MB
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Interesting twist re. XML and "pull" publishing on the web. Would you
mind forwarding my response to techwr-l for further discussion? I
can't post directly. Thanks.

--Geoff
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Mark Baker, expanding the debate about the ethics of framing,
wondered about the implications for "pull"- or "subscribe"-based web
publishing, in which you extract information from someone else's site
to publish on your own site. I think that a combination of the model
used in academic publishing and the standard between-human etiquette
will provide the solution in _all_ cases:

Step 1: Academic publishing recognizes the doctrine of fair use of
copyrighted material, and although this doctrine has many subtle
twists and turns, the rule of thumb is that you can reuse someone
else's publicly available information if it's only a small part of
your own information, if you only use a small part of that person's
information, if you attribute it (identify the source), and if you
provide more intellectual input than simply filing off the serial
numbers and claiming the formatted information as your own. That's
easier to state than it is to make a judgment using it, and when
there's a chance that lawyers will get involved, or the situation is
at all unclear, jump to step 2.

Step 2: Politeness and respect for others still count, even on the
Web. You'll never be sued by a publisher for using something with the
publisher's express permission, particularly if you give the
publisher the right to approve the final appearance/format of the
information you're reusing. When in doubt, ask for permission; if
permission is refused, paraphrase or provide a simple "here's what
Geoff said" link to the original source. Please note that I
distinguish between the publisher and the author: since the author
may have assigned copyright to the publisher, it's not safe to ask
the author alone for permission... go right to the publisher.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

Hart's corollary to Murphy's law: "Occasionally, things really do work
right."