[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] OT but important

[Jerry Frank]

I don't think you have violated any rule but further discussion on the mailing list is probably not warranted.  I am making the following comment regarding the position of SGGEE.  This is not an official comment from the Board but rather my opinion in my role as webmaster and mailing list administrator.  If anyone has any questions or further comment, please address them to me personally rather than to the entire list.

Jerry Frank
SGGEE Mailing List Administrator


I don't know if there will be a dramatic impact on the Internet or not.  As for SGGEE, there is no impact.  We have always been careful to avoid using copyright material on our website or in our Journal.  If somehow something was posted and we received a valid claim of infringement, we would simply remove it.  Lawsuits are only instigated if there is refusal to do so or if someone can prove financial loss because of the infringement, or conversely, financial gain by the infringer.

I don't understand how genealogy lists (I assume the original poster means mailing lists) will be affected by this.  Again, if someone posted a message that included copyright material, we would have to remove it from our archive but the odds of that happening, or of anyone complaining, are very remote.

We will not be participating in any black-out.

Jerry




----- Original Message -----
From: gswilson19 at aol.com
Date: Sunday, January 15, 2012 10:33 am
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] OT but important
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org

> 
> I hope this doesn't violate any list rules here. I found this on 
> another of my lists. Seems to be real. How many of our genealogy 
> sites would this effect if passed? 
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:50:36 -0600
> From: Debbie Greenlee <daveg at airmail.net>
> Subject: [POLAND] Copyright Blacklist
> To: Polish Genius <polish_genius at yahoogroups.com>, Poland Roots
> <POLAND-ROOTS at rootsweb.com>, Bukowsko Triangle
> <bukowsko_triangle at yahoogroups.com>, Sanok Group
> <Sanok at yahoogroups.com>
> Message-ID: <4F1222DC.9050300 at airmail.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
> 
> On Wednesday, January 18, 2012 many web sites will be black in protest
> to the upcoming government bill (Stop Online Piracy Act) which 
> makes 
> individual web sites responsible for copyright violations. This 
> bill 
> includes any site that has user-uploaded files including email 
> list 
> groups such as this one.
> 
> Other valuable web sites which would be affected are Wikipedia, 
> YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo. Ebay and Amazon 
> are 
> protesting SOPA even though they are not particularly vulnerable.
> 
> What will probably happen is that the large hosting sites will 
> end up 
> policing themselves but sloppily, rather than wait for the 
> government 
> to shut them down for only one (1) copyright violation. So, if a 
> host, 
> (Wikipedia) for instance, thinks there is a copyright violation, 
> rather than checking it out (costly) they'll just remove the item.
> 
> The blackout will last for 12 hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Some sites 
> will 
> just put up a banner allowing people to click through to the 
> site. 
> Other sites may not allow you to click through for the 12 hours.
> 
> Many of the major sites are against the "Stop Online Piracy Act" 
> (SOPA). The bill just doesn't cover music but it seems to be 
> fueled by 
> the music, movie, and graphic artist industry though it will 
> affect 
> written material as well and that's where the genealogy lists 
> come in.
> 
> I am sorry to say that a Texas Representative came up with SOPA.
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-
> affect-you-faq/
> 
> For more information about SOPA: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
> 
> Forbes article:
> http://tinyurl.com/6rjaztn
> 
> Debbie
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