All,

I was thinking about offering data free that I collect for myself so that those that don't know how to program can still get a database going for themselves without having to enter the data manually.

Can anyone tell me if there is a law against it ? Does it breach copyright if I pull the data from several different sites ? and how can one site copyright the data anyway when it seems to be freely available from most places ?

If no one can think of anything I will start to offer it soon.

Eagerly awaiting to hear your thoughts ...

Wesmip1, I wont say for certain, but i think most sites are happy to have their stuff downloaded as long as it is for personal use only and not sold by you to anyone else. I tend to go with the thought that if it is put up on a web site for all to see then I dont see any harm for someone to save that info to read/use at a later time as long as that person is not reproducing the info in the same formatt to make profit from. ( as in selling the info) what i mean by that is if you were to sell the stuff in the same way that it is displayed then it is illegal, however if you use the info to produce ratings or similar that you then sold then that would be ok. If you are willing to give it away free, i think it is ok as long as we do not sell it to anyone. It may be better for you to email the info to us rather than attaching it to a post, as their may be some legalities involved in doing that. Hope I have made sense and been of some help, and if you choose to share your info then please put me on your list. Regards the doc.

Dr Ron,

I'll just finish up a bit more of this stuff and then probably offer it via email, there appears to be some legalities regarding using it for commercial purposes which I am not sure happens if I put it on a web site... they may class a web site as a commercial purpose.

If anyone else wants on the list please let me know.

As a start the data will be sent in a CSV File which can then easily be loaded into any database or spreadsheet.

I expect to have the bugs worked out in the next few days but that all depends on how much time I get to work on it.

Good Luck.

thanks wesmip, my email is sonnyboy64 at optusnet dot com dot au

Hi wesmip,
the legalities are outside my knowledge base but I think 'public domain' stuff would be a little risky. Might be a little paranoid, but I would err on the side of caution.
I, myself, would love to receive the fruits of your work and if you would (my email is DeeGee_88@Hotmail.com ) I would be most appreciative.

Good luck with your work and good punting,
Den

We should also remember this forum isn't 'public Domain' but a commercial enterprise [it wouldn't exist otherwise because the owner amd moderators have to eat too] which should be respected. This site sells a stats package [see sticky] so free stats advertised here might not be appreciated:-)

The way it is if the information is displayed on a public webpage then it is for everyone.

If some one downloads information and chooses to offer that information to another person (even at a cost) then there is nothing that can be done to stop them, as long as there are no trade marks involved.

If i wanted to collect all the knowledge displayed on this and other forums then package it in to a nice little book and sell it for $29.95 who is going to stop me.

It would be up to the individual sites that displayed my book for to decide if they want it displayed.

Yes this site sells a states package but all he is offering is raw data not a package.

Boy you're up early Shaun must be around 3:30am in Perth at the moment! The book idea - not a bad one at all

You obviously have never read the terms and conditions of becoming a member. All material once printed on this forum belongs to and becomes the property of the owner of this site. Every member has agreed to these terms of use. Ignorance of the terms and conditions doesn't hack it. The real world is a bit different to how most of use fantasize about how we think it is or would like it to be.

Yes mate i was up early i had a 5am start at work today....thats cool only working till 12pm.

Crash you lost me with that post.....the point you were trying to make.