Copyright or Copy Wrong?

Copyright or Copy Wrong?

Copyright

It is true that a copyright notice is at the bottom of every web page on this site. A copyright is a legal device created by the United States Constitution to allow the author of an original work exclusive rights to his original creation. It applies to written works like books and music and has been extended to web sites. It is automatic. i.e. you don't have to file paperwork with some agency before disseminating it, as you do with a patent. I'm not claiming this web site will win me a Pulitzer prize, but it is my creation. So tell me - does this paragraph sound like it was written by someone who is a bit "dense" or "wacko"?

Copy Wrong

Brookfield blogger and political gadfly Cindy Kilkenny used her Wednesday, January 9, 2007 blog to once again devote her snarling and almost coherent rhetoric to "little ol' me". Why should I care?

Well, there's an old propaganda truism that if you say something loud enough and long enough that people will start to believe it. One reason is that they forget the original questionable source and start saying things like, "I heard somewhere, I can't recall exactly where, but..." Another common situation is that they hear it from a trusted neighbor without ever asking where he heard it from. Anyway, the point is that I'm just tired of it. So, with the goal of showing just how error prone and manipulative that blog has consistently been, let me post a few tidbits. If it gets you wondering about how many other blog entries had problems, I will have succeeded. If it doesn't, let me know and I can include a few dozen more such reports.

If applying a copyright to a local political web site is so absurd, how do you explain this commentary from Cindy Kilkenny? [emphasis is mine]

From: Cindy Kilkenny [mailto:cindykilkenny@wi.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 4:08 PM
To: scott@scottberg.com
Subject: reposting blog entries written by Cindy Kilkenny

Dear Alderman Berg,

I see that almost a year later you still manage to be quite fixated on the 2006 mayor race in Brookfield. Today I discovered that you have reposted all of my personal and campaign blog entries to your web site at www.brookfield2006.scottberg.com. The site is set up to respond to a forward from www.brookfield2006.com.

We did correspond about this a bit when you first posted all of my writing last April. You removed the blog pieces when I suggested that in fact, they are not public domain as you assert but copyrighted material. Perhaps you have done subsequent research to find otherwise. I do still have my original research. I maintain the work is copyrighted as written and I am willing to defend that copyright.

I am gathering paperwork and will file to remedy this situation if you do not immediately remove the blog material. I will also contact your internet hosting provider and file a claim under the Digital Millennium Protection Act of 1998 if you do not honor my request.

I may also gather research to determine if the work of the campaign committee Brookfield2006.com can be validly reposted on your Aldermanic site since that election committee has been closed. That will require contact with the elections board and the district attorney. Of particular interest is the open records request dated January 10, 2005 from the Brookfield Police Department. That document was given to Mayor Jeff Speaker. He requested it immediately after being interviewed by Brookfield News reporter Sue Nord where Ms. Nord revealed my intention to run for mayor. Such a revelation is quite contrary to the independence statement (EB-6) that you filed when registering Brookfield2006.com as an election committee.

I have plenty of time to wrap up loose ends, Mr. Berg. I hope that you will provide a prompt attention to my request and save us both some trouble.

Regards,

Cindy Kilkenny

PS I also noticed that you have a copy of a full published article from the CNI paper on your site. I doubt that the company enjoys your republishing of that article any more than I do of mine. A full article clearly does not comply with the ideal of fair use. (see http://brookfield2006.scottberg.com/Mayor/200Character.htm) It’s not in any way my problem, but I thought others might want to know.

The diatribe implies some conspiracy between Mayor Speaker and myself. The following links show the police report mentioned. One is the complete file, including cover letter and receipt from the police department. I did my own legwork!

Document with annotation posted on web site during 2006 election (9 pages)

Complete police file received after an open records request, including receipt for copies. (16 pages + receipt)

It's no secret that I have made electronic copies of Cindy Kilkenny's blogs. After all, they were part of my my Brookfield2006.com election web site, which I believe played a role in the 2006 mayoral race. So if Cindy Kilkenny believes that it's such a terrible thing to do, how do you explain this email? [emphasis is mine]

From: Cindy Kilkenny [mailto:aldermankilkenny@wi.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 9:31 AM
To: scott@scottberg.com
Cc: 'Jeff Speaker'; moschella@ci.brookfield.wi.us
Subject: Web site request

Scott,

I am asking you to stop commenting about me on your Web site. While you are certainly within your legal rights to say whatever you would like, I hope you will consider it a professional courtesy and no longer provide commentary about me that includes your opinion. You offer these comments in red italics and have begun making comments about me appear in larger type over the last few postings.

Since I’m a little sensitive to your comments I thought it best to have an outsider monitor the issue and am having both an attorney and a psychologist read your statements. Everything is being captured to determine if a certain pattern of behavior might exist towards me.

Regards,

Cindy

P.S. Maybe you should ask yourself why your Web site is becoming more about me and less about you.

Alderman Cindy Kilkenny

2nd District, City of Brookfield

262-783-9824

aldermankilkenny@wi.rr.com

I find it interesting that both an attorney and a psychologist feel so beholding to Cindy that they are willing to read my comments. I wonder how she got to know them?