# Hi Stephen
# I think you're missing something. Owners of intellectual property are
# entitled to due reward for their work - and copyright legislation provides
# protection for this.
# As the costs of providing web services increase, service providers are
# increasingly looking for ways of covering their costs. In the case of
# London Transport I think it is reasonable for them to receive advertising
# revenue to cover their costs. The simplest way of maximising hits on
# advertising is to request institutions link to the main entry point.
# I don't see anythink wrong with this.
# I also don't agree with David Newman's assertion that this is an
# infringement on academic freedom.
But surely it's the death-knell for those hypertext utopias of Bush and Nelson? The
ultimate interlinking of all human knowledge laid low before a cost-benefit
analysis of the LT website sitting on some bureaucrat's desk? The real issue here
is the usefulness of hypertextual information, which is being stymied by issues of
IPR.
Or am I just being idealistic?
Incidentally, the Evening Standard has a tube map at:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/applet/tubemap/img/full_map.gif
Also: I assume that it's only the graphic design of the tube map itself that is
copyright and not the actual arrangement of the stations (as OS maps are copyright
but drawing a map of your favourite countryside walk doesn't violate that
copyright). Perhaps someone should do a freeware map of the underground (different
colours for the lines, different station symbols?) if LT are going to put
unreasonable restrictions on theirs?
Danny
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Danny Birchall
Editor
University of Sussex Information Service
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/
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Tel: (0)1273 678745
Fax: (0)1273 678441
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