tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33573016.post6549587311090777183..comments2024-02-11T02:24:22.330-06:00Comments on Nonbovine Ruminations: Repeater lists, and collaboration in the amateur radio communityAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04107127399494404366noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33573016.post-89104670225991617252009-02-05T12:35:00.000-06:002009-02-05T12:35:00.000-06:00Not only do the repeater councils have this attitu...Not only do the repeater councils have this attitude, but the ARRL does as well. When I approached them about using their database (by way of TravelPlus), they informed me that the data are copywritten and that using it in my product would represent a violation. They went on to tell me that they have agreements with the councils that prohibit them from making all the data freely available. The point here is that this attitude prevails across the board, from the ARRL on down. Then there are Web sites who also collect the same data and are unwilling to part with it unless money changes hands... I was prepared to create my own, freely available database just to get around this, but perhaps I won't need to...Toddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07822425696368926756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33573016.post-87677583454880880672008-09-25T15:37:00.000-05:002008-09-25T15:37:00.000-05:00It's absurd for frequency coordinators to require ...It's absurd for frequency coordinators to require payment to get provide an accurate list of repeaters. I further think that it's very likely that any legal claim they might have over this information In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Feist v. Rural that telephone companies do not have a copyright on telephone listings, because copyright protects creativity and not mere labor of collecting information which already exists. Given that repeater listings similarly do not contain any creativity, it would seem to me (and yes, I am not a lawyer) that the same reasoning would apply.<BR/><BR/>SERA's rationale seems to be that without fees, they couldn't do their job. That seems silly, since there are other volunteer groups (most notably, the majority of VEC groups) are unpaid for the work that they perform. Many hams donate their own time and money generously to support the kinds of work that they think is valuable to the ham radio community.<BR/><BR/>SERA further asserts that "Repeater listings son the Internet would be unfair to the thousands of hams, who for many years have unselfishly supported and contributed to the SERA." I'm curious: did they poll their contributors to find out if this is true? I frequently contribute time and money to organizations which freely distribute software, and am motivated in part by this policy. While I can certainly imagine that some people might be insulted by the idea that someone else would get something for free that they paid for, I can also imagine that some people would be happy to make accurate records available for the benefit of hams in their region.mvandewetteringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17698713998101355466noreply@blogger.com