Wikileaks To Sell Hugo Chavez' Email 313
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Wikileaks seems to be a bit hard-up for cash, so they're trying a little experiment. They plan to auction off an archive with three years worth of Hugo Chavez' email. The winner will get a period of embargoed access to break any stories they can find in the files, while Wikileaks will later publish the archive in full. Wikileaks plans to use the profits for their legal defense fund, but they may run into trouble because most reputable news outlets have policies against paying sources."
Re:Risky... (Score:5, Informative)
"I fixed your post for you"
From http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/IFYPFY [wiktionary.org]
Re:Reputable news sources (Score:2, Informative)
And does this mean that no UK newspapers are reputable as every single one of them pay their sources?
Re:They pay photographers (Score:2, Informative)
Although this is off-topic, I had to respond as actually whilst Hitler may have expired the copyright in his works hasn't. In Germany, as with the rest of the EU, copyrights are for life of the author plus seventy years. If he had beneficiaries (which, as far as I am aware, he didn't) they would would hold the copyright for his works until 2015 given he died in 1945.
Things that you think are out of copyright probably aren't, thanks to the current global IP regime.
Re:They pay photographers (Score:2, Informative)
Not global, or even 'the rest of the EU' as here in England copyright is 50 years from creation, whether the author is still alive or not.
(yes, I am completely off-topic and just picking at semantics, thank you for noticing.)
Re:They pay photographers (Score:3, Informative)
The wiki [wikipedia.org] suggests that he left anything of value to the Nazi party, but doesn't say what became of the assets of the party after the end of the war. Whoever got the party's assets probably (at least in theory) holds the copyright to the diary.
"At the time of his death, Hitler's official place of residence was in Munich, which led to his entire estate, including all rights to Mein Kampf, changing to the ownership of the state of Bavaria. As per German copyright law the entire text is scheduled to enter the public domain on December 31, 2015, 70 years after the author's death. The copyright has been relinquished for the English, Dutch and Swedish editions."
quoted from this page [wikipedia.org].
Journalists don't create stories??? (Score:4, Informative)
>>Journalists don't create stories, they document existing events.
I'm sorry, but that's just naive.
Just a few examples to hopefully open your eyes:
Dan Rather's famous forged Air National Guard documents (for which he was fired, but stands behind with his infamous "fake but accurate" quote):
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12526&only [littlegreenfootballs.com]
This wasn't just some staff reported in Podunk Arkansas, it was a lead anchor who was willing to end his career in order to further propaganda piece that was obviously fake. Makes me wonder what other pieces he pushed in his many years as news anchor and senior editor.
The New York Times accepts (read: publishes without edit) Barack Obama's Op-Ed but "rejects" a piece by John McCain. No bias there. Nosir. Nope.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/21/mccain.nyt/ [cnn.com]
Reuters accepts the most amateurish photoshop jobs: ...and only after an internet firestorm has to admit it:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/21956_Reuters_Doctoring_Photos_from_Beirut [littlegreenfootballs.com]
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/reuters-caught-blowing-smoke-faking-photos [sweetness-light.com]
Tennessee newspaper published blatantly altered photograph to promote political agenda: http://terryfrank.net/?p=2964 [terryfrank.net]
Iran gets in on the photoshop act: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-too-many/index.html?hp [nytimes.com]
And then you have the FREQUENT odd Reuters captions: It seems that every time Israel takes out a terrorist with a missile, the area is flooded with "youth" that "inspect" the wreckage. (in reality, they are looking for bits of body parts, for they believe that by touching bits of the dead "martyr", they help secure a spot in heaven. Grisly and repulsive.)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25627_Palestinian_Car_Swarm_Watch [littlegreenfootballs.com]
And I'll finish with the most vile, disgusting example I've ever seen. The Associated (with terrorists) Press publishes staged photographs of dead children arranged by a (so called) palestinian "press agent". Pure propaganda.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=22123_Green_Helmet_Admits_Staging_Photos&only [littlegreenfootballs.com]
which is promptly carried to the United Nations and presented there:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/22669_Fauxtography_at_the_United_Nations [littlegreenfootballs.com]
That's what I was able to put together with 5 minutes of work. I could continue for hours (days?) but hopefully this will open your eyes to the fact that there are people in the "news" that have clear agendas and aren't above creating stories where none exist in order to influence you. Not to mention those who write with bias.
Re:They pay photographers (Score:3, Informative)
...here in England copyright is 50 years from creation, whether the author is still alive or not.
I don't think that's correct. I'm pretty sure our copyright is harmonised with the rest of the EU.
This [worc.ac.uk] says "70 years from the end of the year of the authors death". 50 years from creation is only for sound recordings.
Re:That's what bothers me (Score:5, Informative)
By law the white house must keep an archive of all messages. Unfortunately bush "accidental" lost 2 years of email archives.
Re:Think of the aide who's email was leaked.... (Score:2, Informative)
He is a populist and often acts like a buffoon but he was elected, he faced the public opinion in a referendum to remove him from office and when he tried to make changes to the constitution last year, he submitted them to the public and lost (by a very small margin). He acknowledged the defeat and said that he would try to hear the people (obviously that is not necessarily the truth). Where else do you see such an open process? Certainly not in the US or most countries in Europe.
Re:Journalists don't create stories??? (Score:1, Informative)
What you buy determines what they sell. Consumers create the news! Right now, the consumers are buying Obama, and McCain is staying on the shelf. It's not a conspiracy - or if it is, you're a member of it.
Consumers are buying Obama because the media are eagerly selling him. It's the same way they sold Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and George W. Bush... first you build up a celebrity brand, then you market the hell out of it.
If it starts to get old, you can try to reposition the brand a few times. And so George Bush morphs from Compassionate Conservative to the Healer of the Troubled Nation to the Leader in Time of War. Barack Obama morphs from Peace-maker and Conciliator, to Agent of Hope and Change, to something that is yet to be formed.
And when people eventually get sick of the brand, the media can still get quite a bit of mileage out of it by reselling it as an object of derision.
Read your own link? (Score:5, Informative)
Err... read your own link, dude.
Quoting from the English version of that Venezualan copyright law, that you linked to:
Which part of "by the mere fact of his creative act" is confusing you? By the very act of creating something, you already have copyright on it in Venezuella too. :P
I also quoted the next line because it also pretty much spells it out that even though he's a public figure and all, he still isn't losing that copyright.
Also, before that:
It's plain english, not even legalese. But if someoneone needs a translation: no, he doesn't have to register copyright anywhere, and there is explicitly no requirement of merit or purpose for it to apply. Still not clear? Well, let's read on:
It seems to me like if they're worthy of being disclosed or published by Wikileaks, they just met this requirement.
That is a valuable idea indeed, but it still doesn't quite justify a knee-jerk posting that even where it doesn't apply at all. The relevant paragraphs aren't different in its provision or spirit from US copyright law at all. Maybe post that remark where it actually applies? Just a thought ;)
Re:Read your own link? (Score:4, Informative)
If I read IIRC paragraph 3 right, laws, government acts and the like are not eligible for copyright there. It does not seem to imply however, that private correspondence of official persons gets the same exemption.
AFAIK that's the whole _point_ of that treaty: each country recognizes the IP of people in other countries that signed it. You can get sued even if you're in the UK and pirate an US movie. Because that US company's copyright is still recognized as valid copyright in the UK. You can (at least theoretically) get sued in Venezuela for pirating an EA games or Microsoft Office. (EA = USA company.) So it seems only _fair_ (not to mention, again, that's what that treaty says) that the USA also recognizes the IP of someone in Venezuella as valid, legally-protected IP.
Re:That's what bothers me (Score:2, Informative)
Interesting blanket statement. Is that why millions of his supporters brought the capital to a halt in the CIA-backed coup?