[Air-l] quoting from public websites

[Christian Nelson]

Upon reading a few articles on copyright and web materials I've become
confused. On the one hand, specific sections of US copyright law indicates
that *any* expression that has *any* permanent form (including web pages,
E-mails, etc.) should be considered copyrighted/copyrightable. On the other
hand, isn't the purpose of copyright to protect *valuable* property--that is,
property whose unauthorized use will deprive its creator of some income? *If*
this is part of copyright, then does/should copyright extend to stuff that has
no commercial purpose/intent--something that describes most E-mails and
personal web pages? I suspect there is no answer to this till it gets tested
in court, but I'd be interested in any expert opinions.
--Christian Nelson

Barry Wellman wrote:

> I personally consider public websites to be like other published material.
> I cite, reference and quote all the time, without hiding everything.
> (Indeed, if you give the URL [as you should] in the references, what's
> there to hide?)
>
> Of course, like other published material, fair use copyright
> considerations come into play.
>
>  Barry
>  ___________________________________________________________________
>
>   Barry Wellman        Professor of Sociology       NetLab Director
>   wellman at chass.utoronto.ca   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
>
>   Centre for Urban & Community Studies        University of Toronto
>   455 Spadina Avenue   Toronto Canada M5S 2G8   fax:+1-416-978-7162
>  ___________________________________________________________________
>      To Live is To Network                To Network is To Live
>
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