(The first forwarding of this one did not go through. I suspect it was too long, because it included an appended email exchange of about 10 or more messages from June 13-14 1999. I am sending the grievance only this time. Any committee hearing the grievance would of course want to see the full email exchange.) Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 07:59:42 -0600 To: "Jim Powell, Jr., USGenWeb Southeast/Mid-Atlantic Region CC Representative" <jpowelljr@gru.net>, "Teri Pettit, USGenWeb Southeast/Mid-Atlantic Region CC Representative" <pettit@adobe.com> From: C Hammett <CarHammett@mindspring.com> Subject: Commercial Abuse Grievance #2 Cc: TNGenWeb CC List <TN-All@egroups.com>, USGW-CC-L@USGenNet.Org In accordance with the USGenWeb Project Bylaws, Article XIV, GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES AND APPEALS PROCESS, this email is to request that the USGenWeb Project Advisory Board arrange for an impartial party to mediate the following grievance against USGenWeb Archives Project Coordinator Linda Lewis; to wit: 1. The USGenWeb Project is an unincorporated not-for-profit association (USGenWeb Bylaws, Article III, STATUS AS AN ORGANIZATION) 2. The USGenWeb Archives Project (aka USGenWeb Project Archives aka USGenWeb Project Digital Library) is a Special Project of the USGenWeb Project (USGenWeb Bylaws, Article XIII. SPECIAL PROJECTS), located on the domain, Rootsweb.com, Inc., a commercial web-hosting service for whom advertising-bannered search engine returns of the Archives' contents are both a major income source and a major public relations/advertising tool. 3. USGenWeb Archives Project Coordinator Linda Lewis is a paid employee and stock option holder of Rootsweb.com, Inc., a commercial corporation. 4. On 14 Jun 1999 TNGenWeb Archives File Manager Javan Michael Deloach advised the undersigned that her Sullivan and Warren Cos, TN submissions had been, at her request, "removed from the Sullivan and Warren County Tennessee USGenWeb Archives. The references to them have been removed from the corresponding Tables of Content.." 5. That the files were gone as of that date was personally confirmed by me at the time. Today, however, the Sullivan Co, TN file is back online. It is not listed on the index at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tn/sullivan.htm, but was located at ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tn/sullivan/military/1788mil.txt, following my accidental discovery of the file via a search: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/data/tn+index+284964383089+F As noted in the correspondence below, my reason for requesting their removal was my unwillingness for my research to be used commercially; i.e., I did not remove the files from the Internet, but only from the Archives. The Sullivan file (now out of date) has been back online for an unknown amount of time; to wit: the file has the original date stamp of Jan 25, 1997, thus was apparently restored by Ms. Lewis via an unauthorized backup. During this time period, thus the file has been available for commercial abuse by the server. The only immediately available remedy is removal of the file and all back-ups of the file. Should the file not be removed immediately, please be advised that this will constitute not only a violation of federal intellectual property (copyright) statutes, but render null and void the noncommercial permanent use agreement that *all* submitters have with the USGenWeb Archives (Bylaws, Article X Copyright, Section 3). Should Ms. Lewis and/or her employer, Brian Leverich of Rootsweb.com, Inc., refuse to act immediately, appropriate action will be taken, including a demand for reinstatement of the earlier grievance (below). Carole Hammett Warren Co, TNGenWeb CC http://www.tngenweb.org/warren/