Hi Ron
   Thanks for the message you sent to the lis-elib site regarding CLA's 
policy on copyright related to your web site.
   One comment that I would make is that there is a need for automated
tools and protocols for rights management.  A robot cannot process textual
information stored in an unstructured way.  There is a clear need for the
robots not wanted protocol to be extended to support more complex
licensing conditions (such as downloading resources for up to 30 days).
   I would encourage the CLA to become involved with the World Wide Web
Consortium work in this area.  See, for example, http://www.w3.org/IPR/
and the section on robots in http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-htmllink
   Note also that Dublin Core has a placeholder for rights, and that 
there has been some discussion on the www-htmnl list on having a pointer
related to privacy information.

   A couple of comments about your pages.

You say that "you are not authorised to alter the material in any way".
This sounds reasonable.  But what is your position regarding indexing
tools, which create a summary of your pages.  For example, if you search 
for CLA on Alta Vista, your Web site is top of the list, with a summary
from your home page.  This could be regarded as deletion of a substantial
portion of your page (and also storing for over 30 days).  Will you be
sending a letter to Alta Vista (and all the other search engine vendors)
as you have done with Alexa?

You describe the need for copyright - to encourage creativity, etc. (sorry
for not quoting you correctly, but I'm not allowed to copy a portion of
your text :-()  I don't see how this fits in with the restriction on 
downloading over 30 days.  Could you explain this to me - I am interested. 

A couple of suggestions which I think will improve your website:

I suggest that you change the wording on your home page so that it doesn't
say "Click on the copyright notice" as not all user agents are mouse
driven.
 
I could not see the copyright link at
http://www.cla.co.uk/www/copywatch.htm
as the colour of the link was very difficult to read on a black
background (similar to small print which is too small too read?)
 
Thanks

Brian Kelly

------------------------------------------------------
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus
UKOLN, University of Bath, BATH, England, BA2 7AY
Email:  [log in to unmask]     URL:    http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Phone:  01225 323943            FAX:   01225 826838

On Tue, 9 Sep 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> 
> Following Geoff Lane's original posting to this newsgroup about the 
> activities of Alexa, CLA has sent an email to Alexa pointing out their 
> possible infringement of the CLA website's copyright restrictions.
> 
> Although the issue of privacy and exclusion from the Alexa archiving (by 
> using robot exclusion tags in site HTML) both appear on the Alexa website 
> (alexa.com), we could find no mention of copyright.
> 
> Clearly, the possible implications of copyright infringement go far beyond 
> the CLA website and any person or organisation that puts material on the 
> Internet  and protects it with copyright should be aware of Alexa's 
> activities.
> 
> For information, I have included below a copy of the entire email as sent to 
> Alexa.
> 
> Robert Dyer
> CLA Webmaster
> 
> +++
> 
> I am writing having read the information available on your site with regards 
> Alexa's archiving of World Wide Web site pages.
> 
> I am advising you that all material stored on the CLA web server (all pages 
> beginning with the URL: http://www.cla.co.uk) is the copyright of the CLA 
> and restrictions on what you may do with this material are clearly stated.
> 
> In particular, I draw your attention to the restriction which states that 
> you may only store (CLA site) material on a computer or cache "for a period 
> not exceeding 30 days".
> 
> If you have archived material from the CLA website which is over 30 days old 
> then you are in breach of our copyright.
> 
> If this is the case then I am formally giving you notice to remove all CLA 
> site material over 30 days old from your site within 10 days of the date of 
> this message and to continue to do so in future unless otherwise advised in 
> writing by the CLA.
> 
> We are however willing to consider favourably any application for permission 
> to copy the material on our site for archival purposes, subject to 
> appropriate conditions to prevent misuse and/or misrepresentation.
> 
> I note from your website that you comply with the Robot exclusion standard. 
> However, this does not exonerate you from your responsibility to comply with 
> copyright laws. We have no objection to the principle of archiving of the 
> Web (indeed, it may prove to be a valuable service to the community); but 
> the cavalier approach to our intellectual property (and indeed that of every 
> other site which you archive without the
> consent of the copyright holder) cannot be tolerated.
> 
> Please acknowledge receipt of this message and of your intentions with 
> respect to our copyright material.
> 
> I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
> 
> +++
> 
> ENDS




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