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On 27 Jun 1996, in <4qsrfu$cf4@useneta1.news.prodigy.com>, Andre Bridget, discussing the FOX crackdown on copyright infringement, wrote: <much snipped> >The problem has arisen because the X-Philes didn't know they >weren't intitled to put the images and sounds they had downloaded >from the main FOX X-FILES Website. Perhaps if the X-Philes had Lurked for a while, they'd have learned the elementary fact that _everything_ on the Internet/WWW (except ideas, carefully re-phrased, and abstract information or data) is, in fact, copyrighted by the originator, and cannot be legally reproduced (with the probable exception of one copy for personal use) without express permission unless it bears a specific statement to the contrary. [As an Aside: I, personally, believe that this Law is.often Morally/Intellectually Wrong when applied to applications that make no profit for the infractor and result in no significant loss or damage to the copyright-holder, and I sometimes take a rather liberal (if not anarchistic) view in re. fanzine material.] I don't know if the "X-Philes" are grossly ignorant, stupid, lying, or crusadingly anarchistic... though it is my opinion that the FOX people were being dreadfully stupid (a common attribute of Corporate Entities) in taking the action they seem to have done. Note that the copyright bit mentioned above actually applies, also, to everything Posted to Usenet NewsGroups. There is obviously a sort of common understanding that material posted here may be freely quoted (in the Group to which it was originally Posted), with proper attribution, but this appears to have no legal standing, or is not yet embodied in Case Law. Clearly, rigid enforcement of this law would result in the MeltDown (TM Mpls. fandom) of most of The Internet As We Know It, and I suppose the statutes will eventually be modified or clarified, but meanwhile... it takes Real Knuckleheads to fail to realize that anything from a Professional creator is private property. (And note that, despite the assertion of at least one fan, some lawyers have indicated that unauthorized duplications do not become legal just because they include the original copyright notice.) Don Fitch