[trh01uk]

Although many have been sidetracked on to a discussion about copyright, the OP isn't actually asking about that. Its about the unscrupulous hijacking of material that has been made freely available by one website, by another that decides they can make money out of the same material. Its not illegal - just immoral - and it deeply offends most decent people.

Trouble is, that the practice is widespread in this hobby - and probably in most other branches of collecting too. I refer to the practice of buying cheap (can't get cheaper than free!) - often from a naive seller - and then selling the item on at some other market place - online auctions being an example. I see no way of stamping out such practices, though if I know that is what has happened then I refuse to take any part in it, however desirable the item may be.

Going back to the question, I have been through this dilemma for those providing manuals. I started doing this job back in 2002 for vmars, and I decided that the best policy was to give away everything, without passwords or any type of restrictions. I have no connection with that body now, but I am pleased to see the same policy still in place. BAMA also gives manuals on the same basis.

How do I live with the certain knowledge that there are people out there ripping off all the material I provided (usually involving many hours work to get a good soft copy)? What I think is that the preservation of the information about equipment is the best way to preserve its history. In fact user and technical data about a piece of electronics is absolutely essential to turn it into a meaningful item - rather than just a random collection of old electronic bits in a box.

So if we want to preserve history in the long term, its not just about keeping the hardware - its also just as important to keep the information about that hardware - what it is, who made it, what it does, how it works, whats inside it, how to mend it, etc, etc.

And what is the best way to keep that information safe for the very long term? Well, its definitely not to hide it away on paper in a filing cabinet. Nor is it good to put it on a website, protected by passwords that would challenge the Russians to crack. The way to ensure the long term survival of the information is to just get it out there to as many people as possible. Encourage as many people as possible to take it, make copies, put it on as many machines as they like, print it out, give it away..........even dare I say it, sell it, if they must. However they do it, at least the material is being valued and preserved.

And its worth noting that the BBC is very glad that a few people back in the 60s and 70s broke the law and took illegal copies of radio programmes, that they have since lost (despite their no doubt super professional archiving systems!). Hancock's Half Hour is one example I believe - where old tapes in someone's loft have been used to recover lost material.

Richard