RE: Reporter faked the news.

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Sure, its their "property" but they only hold that right as granted to
them for the public good. I respectfully disagree with Joe Esposito.
Having had a few "words" with him in other forums, I appreciate his
insight and knowledge. I do not believe they have the right to expunge the
public record. They may have it legally. That is a glaring deficiency in
the Supreme Court and Congressional reasoning.

As heritage it is not theirs to do with as they please.

We can lose more of our heritage in the electronic enivronment than has
ever been lost before.

Part of what we must do as a society is figure out how to preserve the
electronic heritage.

Corrupting the historical record because you own it, because you can, is
deeply destructive.

Civilization depends on the historic record. That is one of the few deeply
held beliefs I have about this profession we all take part in. It is how
our heritage is passed from one generation to the next. The whims and
vagaries of copyright ownership or license cannot be permitted to wipe the
record clean. 

Chuck Hamaker.
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph J. Esposito
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Sent: 5/12/03 5:28 PM
Subject: Re: Reporter faked the news.

I wish to make the unpopular point that what the NY Times does with its
archive is its own business.  I have no idea what they intend to do (the
pompous analysis on their wayward reporter in today's paper doesn't really
fill one with hope), but it is theirs to do with as they please.  They
cannot, legally or practically, recall the hardcopies of past issues, but
their electronic archive is their property.  If it were mine to deal with,
I wouldn't expunge it (I would annotate it), but it is not mine (alas!).

Joe Esposito