Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Who Owns The Facts?

Posted by timothy on from the mere-aggregation dept.

windowpain writes "With all of the furor over the Patriot Act a truly scary bill that expands the rights of corporations at the expense of individuals was quietly introduced into congress in October. In Feist v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co. the Supreme Court ruled that a mere collection of facts can't be copyrighted. But H.R. 3261, the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act neatly sidesteps the copyright question and allows treble damages to be levied against anyone who uses information that's in a database that a corporation asserts it owns. This is an issue that crosses the political spectrum. Left-leaning organizations like the American Library Association oppose the bill and so do arch-conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly, who wrote an impassioned column exposing the bill for what it is the week after it was introduced."

9 of 490 comments (clear)

  1. GNAA ACCEPTS GEORGE W BUSH AS SEX TOY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Hey nobody else wants him!

    1. Re:GNAA ACCEPTS GEORGE W BUSH AS SEX TOY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      He is in Hanover Township, in Morris County, NJ if you want him for tonight.

  2. Re:Mississippi Ghostse by i_am_syco · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Man...go AC or something before you go and make yourself look like an ass like that. Tha's not coo', j0.

  3. Re:Mississippi Ghostse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Ah, thank you for reminding me to check Megatokyo.

  4. MODS ON CRACK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How is this off topic?

  5. Re:When I remember Poland... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fucking idiot liar. you are so fucking deluded its funny. you think the US corruption holds a candle to the shit going on in other places? give me a fucking break. you would "rather live in communist poland than in the USA" hahahahaha. bwahahahha. good one lunatic.

    empire of evil? no that was USSR and is currently Islam. get your facts right. and when money is the religion, at least everyone can be fucking honest. what motivates you to work, fuckhead?

  6. GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i missed the tales of ghostse :(

  7. Re:Wild mares or those that have been artificially by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Nothing enough love can't fix. I know of a mare who injured many, nobody ever rode her back further than 100m, she was unbreakable :)And one day a boy arrived, shy, inexperienced... and just fell in love with her. Instead of force and threat, he was just tender, he would never hurt her. She let him ride, and when she came into heat, she just asked him to take her. I think they are the happiest pair I know.

  8. Facts are overrated. by roman_mir · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Facts are meaningless. You could use facts
    to prove anything that's even remotely true.

    --
    You can't handle the truth.