ESSEX-UK-L Archives

Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2002-12 > 1040290211


From: "jacqueline.cooper" <>
Subject: Re: beware when exchanging info!
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 09:30:11 -0000
References: <200212181925.gBIJP6pl012918@lists5.rootsweb.com>


There are 2 points being lost here:

1. Just as much as a person who writes a piece of music or publishes a book,
our work on genealogy is our intellectual property and that should be
acknowledged - most people would be content to be simply asked for
permission, others would like their contribution to be mentioned by name on
the site. There is a tendency for people who run their own history sites to
gather material for the sake of filling it up, even if it is of dubious
relevance.

2. Much more regrettable is taking that freely-provided information and
putting it on a site where it is charged for. I'm sure this happens all over
the internet. To do so is to reinforce theft with fraud, I think.

While the majority of people are happy to share info, I do think a degree of
caution is required as trust can be misused. Yes, the internet is for
sharing, but it is not for thieving. The laws of copyright are complex. As
the editor of a historical journal, I'm also terribly aware that photographs
were all taken by somebody and I have to try as hard as I can to source them
and acknowledge the copyright - does everyone do this on the net? There was
a case recently of a book that had to be pulped because the author had not
done that.

Also the lady who pointed out that all historical info given on the various
sites should be checked by your own research is absolutely correct. A lot of
inaccurate material has always been passed on ad infinitum by books, and now
that tendency is vastly multiplied
by the internet. There is no substitute for your own primary research, and
we all have a duty to try to keep info we supply as accurate as possible and
to correct it if we get it wrong.

here endeth the lesson!

Jacky



This thread: