Sale of "free" stuff on eBay

[John Foust]

At 10:48 AM 11/24/2004, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
>On Wed, 24 Nov 2004, Computer Collector E-Mail Newsletter wrote:
>
>> Here's a theoretical question for the group.
>>
>> What if someone compiled copyrighted data (giving credit to the owners) onto a
>> CD, and gave it away for FREE, but made their money by having advertising
>> inside the contents -- would that be considered ethical?
>
>I think it really boils down to a matter of courtesy.  Even if you burned
>copies to give away to people at no charge, it is still just basic
>courtesy to acknowledge those who made the compilation possible.  It only
>takes 10 seconds to write a simple "thank you".

Or why not give the contributors a copy of the CD/DVD?

As I posted back on 9/7:

I played this game once and made a very big pile of money at it.
In the early 90s, I collected 3D models from artists with
the understanding that I would put them on a CD and sell it
and give them a free copy.  I had signed release forms from 
each artist.

I collected more than 500 models, generated a few hundred tileable 
textures with a Mac program, and sold thousands of CDs at $200 each,
and gave away just as many as promotional bundles with my 3D 
conversion software.  This was back in 1992 or so when CDs were 
relatively uncommon.

Arguably, someone can collect public domain info and hold 
a "collection copyright" on his assembly and arrangement of 
public domain or abandoned docs.  Could someone put his DVD 
online or give it away and could he justifably complain?  
Probably.  He added value by assembling it.

- John