----- Original Message -----
From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_coglit.ecs.soton.ac.uk>
To: <AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 12:31 PM
Subject: Re: Open Archiving: What are researchers willing to do?
> On Tue, 16 Nov 1999, Marvin Margoshes wrote:
>
> tw> From: Thomas J. Walker <tjw_at_GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
> tw> To find out what those attending my two most recent talks were willing
to
> tw> do to promote free access, I asked in a questionnaire if they would...
> tw> (3) post their old articles on their home pages without permissions
from
> tw> copyright-holding publishers? [80% would]
> >
> mm> Interesting that 80% said that they will break the law.
> mm> Is ignorance of the law or something else behind this?
>
> I think it is the very opposite of ignorance that is behind this.
>
> It is an awakening to what is actually at stake here for research and
> researchers, and how fundamentally different the copyright function is
> for the fee/royalty-based literature, for which it was intended, as
> opposed to the give-away literature that is at issue here: the refereed
> journal literature.
<snip>
Very interesting! It appears that to a large group of intelligent, educated
persons, the letter and spirit of the law simply don't matter. Or do they
think that copyright law leaves them the right to the material that they
signed away?
You base your argument on a distinction; does copyright law make that
distinction? Not to my knowledge, but I'm willing to learn.
Received on Wed Feb 10 1999 - 19:17:43 GMT