Yes, the letter can be passed around. At the bottom the author gives permission to circulate the message. Be sure and keep his info. on the bottom of the message. Adrianne ----Original Message----- From: Dan <wb@wvi.com> To: Kee46@email.msn.com <Kee46@email.msn.com> Date: Tuesday, August 18, 1998 12:41 PM Subject: RE Your letter ? >Hi !! >Hey! I was wondering if I could expand your letter to my lists , about the >copy right stuff ? >Thanks; >Dan =============Read the letter bellow=============================== ============================================================== - House Clears Copyright Act The present U.S. Copyright Act was last revised in 1976, long before the online world became popular. I am sure that the lawmakers who framed the 1976 copyright laws never envisioned the issues created by the World Wide Web. As a result, many people have questioned what is legal or illegal online? Even worse, thousands of people have unknowingly violated copyright laws when creating Web pages or when offering databases online. Of course, this problem isn't limited just to genealogy Web pages. But genealogists have certainly had problems with the present laws. Corporations and private individuals alike have copied data, graphics and music without permission. Of course, doing that opens up the possibility of fines and lawsuits. I list new home pages at the end of most of these newsletters. When I spot check them, I am appalled at how many of them have graphics that obviously came from someplace else. Many have text information that obviously was extracted from genealogy books, I suspect some of these books still fall under copyright laws. And time and time again I hear music sound clips, almost all of them are obvious copyright violations. If your Web site has a .WAV file of "Born Free" or "The Wind Beneath My Wings" or any other song that still falls under copyright laws, you could face a significant fine. Think about it. This past week Congress passed legislation to safeguard copyrights for music, software, and written works on the Internet and to outlaw technologies that can crack devices protecting this property. The act has specific language to protect databases, with some exceptions. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was approved by a House voice vote. The same act was passed by the Senate in May. You can find more information about this at: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C24928%2C00.html?sas.mail and at http://www.gpo.gov/congress/cong009.html (search on "copyright", then look at H.R. 2281). ============================================================== COPYRIGHTS: The contents of this newsletter are copyright by Richard W. Eastman and by Ancestry Publishing and by others so designated. You are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to re-distribute articles from this newsletter to other parties provided you do so strictly for non-commercial purposes. Please limit your re-distribution to one or two articles per newsletter; do not re-distribute the newsletter in its entirety. Also, please include the following words with any articles you re- distribute: The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 1998 by Richard W. Eastman and Ancestry, Inc. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Thank you for your cooperation. ==========================================================