There is an interesting article in the March 2002 issue of Technology Review on how computer technology is being applied to the railroad industry. Technology Review - Digital Railroad It was written by Don Phillips of the Washington Post, who also has a monthly column in Trains Magazine. [ 24 April 2002, 02:47: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Ooops ... I didn't fully check the link when I posted last night. I didn't realize that they expected us to PAY to read the full article ... sorry y'all. My Son, who is a subscriber, sent me the full article by snail-mail. I'll scan the 5 pages and post them as photos. It's fairly small print, but I'll experiment with legibility while keeping file size to a minimum.
Thanks, I won't. I guess I don't understand copyright laws. I thought it would be OK if I gave credit to the source and author. But the strength of your advice tells me I was mistaken. Am I libel because I posted the link at the start of this topic? Or only if I were to post the full article without paying $4.50 first? I would think the link and the article summary it displays are public domain. Wayne, many thanks again. Ya know ... with the TB Photo Upload software about to be released, maybe you or another TB member who understands copyright laws could post guidelines. Because one of us might post an interesting photo that we found on another site without a clue that we are breaking laws. [ 25 April 2002, 00:53: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Hank, I tried "Search" since we covered this copyright thing extensively, but Search came up empty again. (I have never got it to work for me.) Now I'm getting the notice: Network Error Unable to request URL from host www.trainboard.com:80 through proxy server null:0:Operation timed out. I'll trey killing cookies. If a title, note, sheet of data, photo, drawing, software, brueprint, computer chip circuit, or anything else that is protected by copyright, is copied in any manner or process without the permission of the legal owner...The perpatrator, (you) can be sued. There are people who are hired to watch for this, and make good money turning in infringement notices. Any published book, newspaper and like that, are almost always copyrighted. This legally prevents you from making a Xerographic reproduction of any article, cartoon, even a two line add, and mail it to your mom, sister, or son, etc. The newspaper wants you to buy another paper, cut the article out, then mail it to whoever, because they get to sell one more of the thing they spent money to produce, and to protect. If you copy an article by hand, it is illegal if you sell it or scan and post it publically (or cause it to be). Same way with a book. Don't scan a photo out of a book you bought, because you are supposed to buy another book, rip out the page with the photo you want, send it to whoever, then throw the rest of the book away. Copyright owners can and do, collect a certain amount of money for each copy you make, so don't send out more than you can afford to pay for. If you were to post it on the open internet, like on TrainBoard, you could be charged for the total number of hits to your post, since it is possible each hit also made another copy of your copy. Watch the expose on the Computer channel and see how bad it can get for you if the wrong company catches you! If the TrainBoard knowingly allows you to post copyrighted material here, and does not delete it, the Grand Poobah can have his internet plug pulled and get a knock in the head. Should you cause that to occur.....It has been rumored that some shadowy creatures could visit you during a dark and stormy night and you could wake up with your computer's head beside you in bed! Hackers are expecially bad at stealing copyrighted material, as well as screwing up programs. There is a nice bounty on them growing in west Texas. [ 26 April 2002, 21:12: Message edited by: watash ]
This is a minefield. I'm not sure about the US, but in the UK copyright exists for original work even if it isn't published. I.e. everything you write (provided it is original and not copied from another source), or photo you take is your copyright. Declaring it with the (c) symbol just makes it a little easier to prove . Quoting an extract from (e.g.) a newspaper article with a credit to the source is usually OK, provided it is not a 'substantial part'. (But the legal interpretation of 'substantial' has proved interesting over the years ) Since it is difficult to 'quote' just part of a picture you would be ill-advised to copy one from any source without the owner's permission, though if you can't trace them you might get away with a note to that effect. Providing a link to an article or picture should be fine as you are effectively directing your reader to go and look at the other source. 'Linking' pictures so they display on your, or another website (like here), is probably more tricky - you aren't actually copying the picture, but you are displaying it out of context. Again, get permission first.
Good advice and well covered, thanks Wayne and Mike. Wayne, the link you posted works fine this morning. The TB server was very low or non-responsive Friday afternoon and evening, so you may have hit at one of those bad times. Remember - when you are having problems with your computer while on the Internet, always try to blame someone else first. [ 27 April 2002, 12:47: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
