Wayback Machine Safe, Settlement Disappointing

Jibbanx writes "Healthcare Advocates and the Internet Archive have finally resolved their differences, reaching an undisclosed out-of-court settlement. The suit stemmed from HA's anger over the Wayback Machine showing pages archived from their site even after they added a robots.txt file to their webserver. While the settlement is good for the Internet Archive, it's also disappointing because it would have tested HA's claims in court. As the article notes, you can't really un-ring the bell of publishing something online, which is exactly what HA wanted to do. Obeying robots.txt files is voluntary, after all, and if the company didn't want the information online, they shouldn't have put it there in the first place."

Comments

Re:Info published on the Internet...

[phulegart]

so if my content is behind a protected "members area" then it is still public domain and should be freely available? If I am a photographer, and my site clearly states that all images are copyright of a certain date and that use of them without my permission is forbidden, that means nothing? If someone uses images of me without my permission, that they got from a website or protected members area, how is it that I can get them removed by complaining? If they are public domain, then it should be my tough luck, right?

If I post your credit card and bank information on a forum site, does that mean it is now public domain and you have no protection?

If I post on a forum site that I am selling stolen credit card info and bank info, my post should not be touched, because it is public domain and it should be freely available?