[SEL] Re: Literature on Old Engine - Ethics Question

[Arnie Fero]

Hi Peter,

At the risk of inflicting deeper gashes on a poor old horse who can no
longer defend himself, let me offer a REALLY simple "test" of what is
ethically acceptable to put up for "free use."

How about this?  Is this item currently being sold by one of the hobby
vendors (eg. Deis / Starbolt / Pederson) and is it marked as such?

If the answer is, "yes", then no, let's not put it up as a freebie.

Is that unambiguous enough for everyone?  I trust that is not too much of
a stretch for folks.

What I find really appaling is that this pair of items IS readily
available, albiet for a couple of bucks.  What about the thousands of
pages of original literature that folks own and which is NOT available?

I honestly feel that we all would advance the hobby far more by scanning
THAT material and putting THAT on the web, rather than those ratty copies
that Ed Deis sells.

See ya,  Arnie

PS - Please Peter, don't remind me of the extensive collection of
literature that YOU have put on the net.  You are a credit to the hobby.
My remarks are general and not directed to anyone in particular.

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005, Listerdiesel wrote:

> OK, can we start to establish what 'IS' OK for people to put up for
> free and what 'ISN'T' ??
>
> I don't want to get into a heavy ethical/moral issue discussion here,
> but Arnie has said that he provided copies for the list archive so by
> default that 'must' be OK. Can we state/accept  that it is OK for
> 'originals' to be copied and put up on the web ?  Originals in this
> case to mean absolutely original material that has not been supplied
> through the restoration trade?
>
> If Arnie's main objections are, and I basically agree with his
> position on this so far, that we should not be copying material that
> has come through the restoration trade and making that material
> available free of charge, then we should be able to replace any such
> material with other stuff that we can ensure is not 'ripped off'.