Re: Major interview

[Robert Hopcroft <hopcroft@uswest.net>]

"Jose C. Lacal" wrote:

> You might very well be right regarding the copyright issues. On the
> other hand, what is to stop me from going to Salzburg, Austria, with my
> Hi8 video camera and take a nice 02-hour video of the city? Then, I can
> digitize it, and put it up on the web, as OpenSource. Anybody can come,
> grab the file, slice it and dice it, and re-purpose it in any way they
> want.
>
> Multiply my hypothetical example by the millions of people out there
> with video cameras that have _nothing_ better to do with their vacation
> videos that bore their neighbors to death, and we are on to something
> here.
>
> All it takes is to have a central repository of privately-produced
> content like the example above, under the GPL (or BSD license), and then
> you have the start of a central content repository for educational
> software.
>
> Of course, one-of-a-kind content is a different story. But I don't think
> anybody has the exclusive copyright on the _images_ of a country (like
> the Mexican pyramids, the Eiffel tower, etc.).
>
> Yes, there are many legal issues involved here, but I am sure those
> issues can be addressed with enough political will.

Jose,
You might look at http://www.seul.org/archives/seul/edu/Jul-1999/msg00415.html
where I expressed a related thought and
http://www.seul.org/archives/seul/edu/Jul-1999/msg00389.html where I expressed
some of my philosophical ideas. Anyway, the general area that you have touched on
has been on my mind for some time. I am also well aware of the potential problems
that Ray has expressed. However, I believe the gain is well worth the risk.

Bob