Slashdot Mirror
95 (thousand) Theses (for sale)
"I am shocked that that this company is engaging in what amount to piracy of my work. Actually, it's worse than that since they are offering it for sale. Imagine the lawsuits and jailtime I would get (a la FBI Warning) if I burned a few hundred CDs of the latest movie release and sold them on the Internet.
"I imagine a great deal of Slashdot readers have completed graduate work. I just wonder what they make of this?"
Well, we'll see. Contentville is funded by CBS, NBC, a huge book distributor and a database aggregator - it launched last month. These companies are in Congress right now lobbying for a law to protect databases - that is, to make re-using information from places such as Contentville illegal. Not just copying the information, but even using any of the data or facts from databases would be illegal. A number of database-protection bills are in Congress right now, and if one of them passes (very likely), the poster above won't be able to make use of his own thesis without paying Contentville - since Contentville went to the effort of compiling their database, and the law would protect that effort.
Steven Brill, so-called "media watchdog", is just in the process of settling with thousands of freelance writers whose work he also, uh, appropriated.
It looks to me like a crystal-clear violation of the No Electronic Theft Act, passed a few years ago. Will Steven Brill go to jail for not more than three years? No. He's a "media watchdog", and only "pirates" go to jail. (Aside to Steve: if the NYT or Washington Post start referring to you as a pirate, best flee the country - the FBI will take an interest in the case then.)
Contentville. We get our Content the old-fashioned way - by stealing it.
Please see this link:
http://www.contentville.com/c ontent/dissertations.asp
*from the page*
Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand scholarly communication and improve access to academic research. All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments. All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI program continues to expand access to research and maintain a permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of dissertation research is intended to support the international scholarly community.
--Brandon
I have a PhD from UC Berkeley. To get my PhD I had to write a thesis. When I turned in my thesis, I was required to publish it by signing an agreement with UMI allowing them to sell copies. Every other grad school I'm familiar with is similar.
I keep the copyright, and if UMI ever sells more than a few copies, they pay me royalties. (Although I'd be shocked if they ever sell another copy after the one my mom bought) Contentville is forwarding orders on to UMI, so I'd get paid if someone bought my thesis through Contentville.
The reason for requiring theses to be published is to ensure that the research they contain is always accessible. Sure, I'll send you a copy of my thesis if you ask me, and so will most other academics, but it's nice to have a central repository where theses are always available. Sometimes it's hard to find or get in touch with an author (try getting Ted Kaczynski's thesis directly from Ted!).
Basically this story seems like someone writing a book and then complaining when they discover Barnes & Noble selling it.
I can''t speak for your school, but at mine we do not own the work. The school does (PhD) thesis. I am in the process of writing as we speak (should not be reading this) and have to sighn the copyright assighnment sheet to turn the thesis into the library. It is similar to when we publish papers in refereed journals, we also lose that copyright.
I am in biology (molecular immunology), so your field/school may be differant (sounds like it is) but I would not say the blanket statement that all of these thesis's (?thesi?) are taken without permission.
Gavin Fischer
The ever-popular Fucked Company awarded viewers 189 points for picking this company -- turns out that they have been accused previously of selling content they don't own. What a way to make a business: take stolen content and slap a horrible interface on it. Then bring on the venture capital.
For more information, click here.
From http://www.contentville.com/c ontent/dissertations.asp
Where do Contentville's dissertations come from?
Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand scholarly communication and improve access to academic research. All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments. All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI program continues to expand access to research and maintain a permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of dissertation research is intended to support the international scholarly community.
UMI is a Bell & Howell" company (I think that's the company that makes educational film strips, and slide projectors). All I can find on copyright from UMI, is how they are will to act as your agent in applying for a copyright. (see this) But on a page linked from there, they say:
UMI publishes dissertations and theses only from accredited institutions and only with a signed publishing agreement from each author. We offer free informational packets with comprehensive details about the publishing process and other UMI services, along with the forms to fill out.
So my guess is that only the abstracts have been 'stolen', and that if you haven't signed an agreement your dissertation isn't really available.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
I just got off the phone with the people at Contentville and this is not quite what it has been portrayed on Slashdot. It turns out that Contentville is a retailer selling copies of these works published by Bell and Howell. Do you remember Bell and Howell? They are the people you paid $150 bucks to print up 5 copies of your thesis or dissertation. Two typically go to the author, two to the university library, and one to the Library of Congress.
In their standard agreement they make everyone sign, they set themselves up as technically being a publisher and they reserve the right to distribute your work in printed and electronic form. They say that if your thesis generates more then $10 in sales in a calendar year, they will pay you a 10% royalty. The ownership of the copyright remains entirely with the author. This is the same agreement they have used for a long time when theses are ordered by other libraries and sometimes by individuals. The only part that's new is the aggressive marketing.
They are running this as an opt out program. If you do not want them selling your thesis online you can call 800-521-0600 x2873 and they will remove your work from the database.
In all, this seems to me like it is not theft. They are taking advantage of the small print in an existing contract to sell books. This isn't too different from conventional publishing except they didn't inform the authors that they were cranking up the marketing machine. They were not able to give me any cases where they had actually generated sales through Contentville or where they had paid any authors, but they have only been up about a month. The woman I spoke to also said that they will only be issuing royaly statements to authors who generate more than $10 in sales.
Because of the minimum sales requirement and the lack of accounting statements for all writers, this gives them the opportunity to underreport sales and steal from people if they want. Time will tell how they will handle this part
How applicable would the GPL be to essays and thesis papers? Would anyone be willing to GPL their research the same way they GPL their source? After all, for the majority of Linux hackers, hacking is as much about learning new stuff (research) as it is producing a finished product.
It seems when there are articles talking about music everyone here on slashdot is of the opinion it should be free and that things like napster are ok. Yet when we are talking about work that some people on slashdot create actually being distributed everyone screams bloody murder? Is it just me or does this seem a tad hypocritical? I mean, sure - this webpage is trying to make money - but then again so is napster (hence the reason investors have given them millions of dollars).
Mine is there and I never gave them permission to sell it. As far as I know, I am the sole owner of the copyright on my thesis.
How many musicians on napster gave their permission for their work to be distributed? Why do people on slashdot complain about *their* copyrights being violated, yet vehemently defend their right to violate the copyrights of musicians? It all seems silly to me...
Who would be very very happy to send you a copy!
:) ), ping me and I'll be more than happy to send them a copy.
:).
I've asked for theses from the original authors before, and they are always happy to oblige by sending a copy.
Academic people have given up their rights to a thesis,which is owned by the university (who provide them happily too).
So what the heck are they trying to do?
If anyway is interested in my thesis (when I am done in a few years that's it
Why the generosity? Research is sponsored mostly by public funds, so the research goes back to the public.
Besides, it's always gratifying to know your thesis is interesting to some people
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
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An Education is the Font of All Liberty
This seems to be yet another over-reaction by the Slashdot community. I would rather that slashdot posted a handful of more accurate stories than post a dozen flawed stories each day.
I wish that the story posters would realize that half of the stupidity and misinformation in comments seems to directly result from something that is flawed in the original posting of a story. Keep in mind that a good many people would rather spout something inane rather than actually read a link. For that reason, if you post a story, please try to keep it accurate. If you cannot be neutral and feel you must make a statement for freedom or some other cause then try to say something intelligent. Otherwise it is just so much trolling and flaimbaiting right on the homepage! (Last time I posted something like this, I got modded down as flamebait. But I am going to put my karma on the line yet again because I am not a coward.)
Mine is there too, but anybody who pays 60 bucks for it is a sucker! ;-)
"Extremism in defense of liberty is more fun."