Who "owns" newsgroup content?

[SEFL]

I was inspired by Forrest's domain name question, so I've decided to fire one of my own out there to see what types of answers I'd get.

I'm going to start with an example of something I see fairly frequently. Let's take the following newsgroup post (side note: I hate Dreamw*av*r, but this is the first post I found that qualified):

http://groups.google.com/group/macromedia.dreamweaver/browse_thread/thread/523615b99d40f712/bf186510c62a778b?lnk=st&q=server+advice&rnum=2#bf186510c62a778b

Next, let's take this "forum post":

http://www.graphicforumz.com/Advice-Local-Remote-Testing-Server-php-Dreamweaver-ftopict66647.html

Now, under normal circumstances the "graphic forumz" would be considered to be stealing...but is it stealing if it's a newsgroup, but completely unenforceable? Or are newsgroups public domain content?

Don't get me wrong...I think this is dirty pool on the part of "graphic forumz" and others that do this...I'm just not sure if it's illegal or just immoral.

[Comeran]

I don't know if it is illegal, but I know it is immoral... if it isn't yours then you shouldn't be taking it. Why not read that and 5 other articles then spend the day writing a bigger better article about that subject? Something that is even more helpful.

Forums taking posts from newsgroups, other forums, etc to try to boost content are immoral.

Is it illegal?

Com-

[Quadrille]

With newsgroups, as most other publishing, the poster is the owner of their work, unless they have decided otherwise.

However, it does get more complicated.

If you post to a newsgroup via Google grups, it may be (I dunno), their TOS gives reproduction rights to Google; so the poster may have given away their rights before they even considered posting.

In practice, I'd be surprised if Google had much interest in what people post, and lifting content is near universal, but it is quite likely that Google do hold some rights, as this would then give them the right to delete, which they would likely want for legal reasons.

But I don't know (and don't propose to read the TOS!).

Similarly, it is possible (though very unlikely), that accessing newsgroups via your ISP contractually gives them ownership.

Either way, it's not a Nice Thing To Do!

[SEFL]

Hmmm...I never thought of it as being "group-dependent". I did consider individual poster/commenter rights, but can't see anything that would be enforceable from a legal standpoint.

Comeran: it's automated, hence the question.

[Dave Hawley]

Lots a forums integrate with Google Groups. There is lots of free software that does this on vBullentin.org. IMO it makes the whole forum a mess and very hard to follow threads. It would also do zip in regards to boosting the forum popularity.

Illegal? Doubtful, but ONLY a well versed Laywer on the topic could say. Going by past history though, unlikely. Immoral? Debatable.

[SEFL]

That's just it, Dave...I haven't just seen it on forums, and when I have seen it on forums, the "forums" have been nothing but verbatim newsgroup postings. So I don't think they care too much about the popularity from a user point of view...they seem to be looking for the GAS revenue.

This is another thing that bugs me...there's a huge potential MFA problem that doesn't seem to be getting dealt with as a result of this.

[Dave Hawley]

Most users of the Google group have no idea that there posts is duplicated on umpteen forums and they never use the forums, only the Newsgroups.

IMO forum owners that do this are putting themselves behind the eight ball and making huge mess on their forum.

I tried it a few years back, saw the mess it created, realized it was loosing more $ than generating and dumped it inside a Month!

[SEFL]

Hmmm...from what I've seen, you're in the minority, Dave. I haven't heard of anyone enhancing a forum (or trying to) like that before. I've only seen it as the entire "forum".

[Dave Hawley]

I'm was in the minority when I dropped the whole idea as it was not close to an enhancement for me, or my users.

I've only seen it as the entire "forum".You need to participate on more forum types :)

Go to Vbullentin.org and search the Mods (Hacks section).

[SEFL]

Nuts to that idea, Dave. There's only so much bullshit that I can stomach in a day.

[Dave Hawley]

:D