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Subject:copyright law & internet correspondence From:Steve Owens <uso01 -at- EAGLE -dot- UNIDATA -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 18 Apr 1994 17:05:05 +0700
> CONSIDER THIS: Typing at a computer puts data into
> read-only-memory. ROM probably does not meet the
> test 'fixed and tangible' however the moment you
> save your data to disk it is fixed and tangible and
> therefore copyrighted. (Here's a parallel. If you
> expose film in a camera the 'latent' image is NOT
> copyrightable until it is developed and visible.)
Actually, you probably mean RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM
is what your computer uses to hold information temporarily, while
manipulating it (before saving it, or after loading it from a disk or
other storage medium). ROM is what your computer uses to hold
information permanently (usually installed by the manufacturer of your
computer or of peripherals) for long-term, small-scale storage. ROM is
extremely fixed and tangible.
Note that the division between RAM and storage devices is
becoming more tenuous. Some companies now offer hard-drive-on-a-card,
which extremely large amounts of slow (hence cheap) RAM built into a
card you insert into your computer. The Newton (Apple's Notepad
computer) uses cards of "flash RAM" you can insert into a slot (much
like a floppy disk) to read in information or write it out. These
range in size (my friend owns a newton and one 2 meg card of flash RAM
that came with three commercial programs on it - he says flash RAM
cards range in size, up to 20 Megabytes).
The principle you're really looking for is volatile or
non-volatile storage. Some devices (conventional RAM) are volatile;
stop supplying power, and whatever was in them is lost. Some devices
(hard drives, disks, tapes, flash RAM, old-fashioned bubble memory or
drum memory) are non-volatile; the data stays there whether you're
supplying power or not. Some devices are theoretically volatile, but
contain built-in power sources to keep the data stored there.
Steven J. Owens
uso01 -at- unidata -dot- com
(my opinions are worth what you paid me for them)
