In a message dated 8/30/2007 2:05:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, sarabtarpley@gmail.com writes: I have just learned that Ancestry.com <http://ancestry.com/> has incorporated people's personal Web pages into their Web site's search. This includes copyrighted material, in my case brief biographies of ancestors. ------- This is my 4th attempt at sending this reply and the previous responses didn't come through--so please bear with me if this eventually becomes a duplicate post. Sara- You are a day late and a dollar short on this issue. <g> The Bios collection has been withdrawn by Ancestry. So your "copyright" issues are a moot point. However, there really was no copyright issue to start with in that, legally, cached webpages have been around for a very long time and are legal and do NOT violate copyright in most case (and certainly not in this case). Google caches webpages, LexisNexus caches webpages for a fee, the Wayback Machine caches pages and every proxy server on the Web caches webpages. It isn't a violation of copyright and it is considered ethical as well by most sources. In fact page caching is absolutely necessary so that people can access Internet sites quickly. Joan ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

Ancestry removed the Internet Biographic search engine completely from their servers as of this morning, having run afoul of the wrath of researchers and genealogists as well as the law. I checked it out to be sure it is completely off servers. It is. 1. the law - image of file is not permitted by law. Google appealed this one and lost. 2. The way the link was cached was all wrong - lending the strong impression that Ancestry own the content when it is not. This is what incurred the wrath of site owners not only those at Rootsweb but also outside of Ancestry/Rootsweb, too! W. David Samuelsen by way of Pat Asher <pasher@ee.net> wrote: > In a message dated 8/30/2007 2:05:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, > sarabtarpley@gmail.com writes: > > I have just learned that Ancestry.com <http://ancestry.com/> has > incorporated people's personal Web pages into their Web site's search. This > includes copyrighted material, in my case brief biographies of ancestors. > ------- > This is my 4th attempt at sending this reply and the previous responses > didn't come through--so please bear with me if this eventually becomes a > duplicate post. > > Sara- > > You are a day late and a dollar short on this issue. <g> The Bios > collection has been withdrawn by Ancestry. So your "copyright" > issues are a moot > point. > > However, there really was no copyright issue to start with in that, legally, > cached webpages have been around for a very long time and are legal and do > NOT violate copyright in most case (and certainly not in this case). Google > caches webpages, LexisNexus caches webpages for a fee, the Wayback Machine > caches pages and every proxy server on the Web caches webpages. It isn't a > violation of copyright and it is considered ethical as well by most > sources. In > fact page caching is absolutely necessary so that people can access Internet > sites quickly. > > Joan

Thank you for that feedback. I can see why ancestry would want to preserve a record of a file for the benefit of future researchers. After all, most web sites have a very ephemeral existence, and and in most cases the information would not be available for long. Not giving people credit for their work, however, is another matter. Had ancestry used a different method of displaying the information, one that say clearly showed that this was a cached version of a specific file, the original location, ownership, and link, would they have been OK? > 1. the law - image of file is not permitted by law. Google appealed > this > one and lost. Yet Google continues to provide access to cached images---which I personally find very helpful, particularly if the original site has been taken down. Is this something that contravenes law? Bill On Aug 31, 2007, at 1:17 PM, W. David Samuelsen wrote: > Ancestry removed the Internet Biographic search engine completely from > their servers as of this morning, having run afoul of the wrath of > researchers and genealogists as well as the law. I checked it out > to be > sure it is completely off servers. It is. > > 1. the law - image of file is not permitted by law. Google appealed > this > one and lost. > > 2. The way the link was cached was all wrong - lending the strong > impression that Ancestry own the content when it is not. This is what > incurred the wrath of site owners not only those at Rootsweb but also > outside of Ancestry/Rootsweb, too! > > W. David Samuelsen > > by way of Pat Asher <pasher@ee.net> wrote: >> In a message dated 8/30/2007 2:05:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, >> sarabtarpley@gmail.com writes: >> >> I have just learned that Ancestry.com <http://ancestry.com/> has >> incorporated people's personal Web pages into their Web site's >> search. This >> includes copyrighted material, in my case brief biographies of >> ancestors. >> ------- >> This is my 4th attempt at sending this reply and the previous >> responses >> didn't come through--so please bear with me if this eventually >> becomes a >> duplicate post. >> >> Sara- >> >> You are a day late and a dollar short on this issue. <g> The Bios >> collection has been withdrawn by Ancestry. So your "copyright" >> issues are a moot >> point. >> >> However, there really was no copyright issue to start with in >> that, legally, >> cached webpages have been around for a very long time and are >> legal and do >> NOT violate copyright in most case (and certainly not in this >> case). Google >> caches webpages, LexisNexus caches webpages for a fee, the >> Wayback Machine >> caches pages and every proxy server on the Web caches webpages. >> It isn't a >> violation of copyright and it is considered ethical as well by most >> sources. In >> fact page caching is absolutely necessary so that people can >> access Internet >> sites quickly. >> >> Joan > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to COPYRIGHT- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message