There have been many comments about the Notice we have on the files.
It's not perfect, but it's the best we have to protect submitters' data.
I found this:
"However, any book that I write which contains these facts is
protected. That is, the "book" is protected, not the "facts". The
book
is the original work, which includes the layout of the book, the format
of the pages, and any thoughts I write down. The presentation of the
facts is protected, but not the facts themselves."
http://www.interment.net/column/commentary/19990915.htm
As all of you know, one of the reasons we put that Notice on the files
is to prevent a commercial project from taking the Archives data,
pressing a cd, and selling it for a profit. Our volunteers spend hours,
days, months, years transcribing to share freely with other researchers
at the USGenWeb Archives. They know we are doing our best to protect
their submissions, and we have a concrete three-year-plus track record.
Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who spend so many hours
formatting, uploading and being custodians for this precious data.
Linda