Comments below Bill wrote: > 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? If they had provided CLEAR DIRECT link to original sites, that would be different, but when Ancestry cache and pass off as if it is their own, that is illegal and and the wrath. > >> 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? Google doesn't do that anymore, only the authorized ones. Google has to comply with the court orders concerning this area "Right of Display". When the site is there no more - Google will show a portion of it in cache, not complete. The only authorized site to have old backups - www.archive.org "Wayback Machine" David Samuelsen > Bill

"W. David Samuelsen" <dsam@sampubco.com> >> 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? > Google doesn't do that anymore, only the authorized ones. Google has to > comply with the court orders concerning this area "Right of Display". I'm not sure what you are saying that Google doesn't do any more. If I Google my web site, it is cached and appears exactly as it does at my site. I haven't authorized Google to do anything. Of course, I am happy they are doing this. The whole purpose of the web site is to share the data. Google helps people find it. Even more people would find it if Ancestry could go ahead with its project. It may be that the manner in which the cached files were displayed at Ancestry caused some people to object, but I really don't understand this. My understanding is that the most vociferous objections came form the USGenWeb people, where their private mailing list really got hot about it. Now I am sure the aim of the GenWeb folks is to make their files available to as many folks as possible. Ancestry is good enough to support RootsWeb, where USGenWeb files are housed and made available. I should think they would be happy to have Ancestry include them in the new search routine. I didn't have the opportunity to see if Ancestry cached my web site (Pence Family History) and how Ancestry may have displayed the cache. In some circumstances I might be mildly upset - but the benefits of added user access would far outweigh my wounded ego. The initial object from USGenWeb came because Ancestry had the cached database as a part of its subscription. The issue GenWeb raised at this was that the donors of the GenWeb databases intended them to be free. This is a false issue. The files remain free at the original RootsWeb site. People are perfectly free to find then at that site and use them with no charge. In effect, what Ancestry was charging its subscribers for was an easier way of finding this data (and more efficient matches with its patented search process) - not for the data itself. I also think that USGenWeb ought to be more cognizant of the fact that it is Ancestry that is making it possible for the GenWeb project to exist by providing the storage for the more than 1 million files of GenWeb. Or maybe they are planning to find another angel. <g> A tempest in a teapot. BTW, I have inquired of a GenWeb leader if it its president had sent an official complaint to Google similar to the one sent to Ancestry. No answer. Richard A. Pence 3211 Adams Ct, Fairfax, VA 22030-1900 Voice 703-591-4243 / Fax 703-352-3560 Pence Family History <www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/>