Alison raises the issue of how this traffic should be treated in terms of
how public, how private, etc. I run 30 listserv spaces - some very private
and containing patient records for cross global emergency consultations -
some very public.

When a listserv is open to public subscription - as is CLICK4HP - there are
two starting facts. The first is -under Canadian law- the ownership of what
one writes belongs to the author. The second is that access to CLICK4HP
documents is open, i.e., the electronic public can access and read every
word. That is the meaning and the intent of a public space discussion.

It is also understood that people post as individuals and not as the
spokesperson for their organization - unless they state that they are
posting on behalf of the organization. For example, I have recently started
an open discussion on Canadian plans for a very large information and
communication technology (ICT) initiative for Africa. The discussion is at
[log in to unmask] and the invitation and background papers are on the 'plain
paper' web site at http://www.yorku.ca/research/dkproj/ICT_AFRICA . The
consultation is a formal consultation and the documents have been approved
for release by Canada's International Development Centre (IDRC). My
participation is as a staff person at Bellanet (an International
Secrertariat at IDRC) and as the coordinator of the Distributed Knowledg
Project (DKProj) at York University.

What are the 'rules of conduct' here. This is ground being defined as the
internet develops. The standard rules of "ownership" and rules against
intellectual 'theft' or false attribution apply. The log files will be
posted "as is" as a record of the traffic. When a kind soul edits some
material down to a more readable format

I will only ask that they cite the log files (archives) from which the
material is taken. That way an interested person can check. I would further
ask that when there is a dispute between authors and editors, that they sort
it out in personal email and only report the result to the list owners (or
the list) for us to take proper action regarding the files.

In my experience, these simple principles solve 99.99% of the issues that
might arrise. Longer discussions about privacy and ownership are seldom
needed in this venue. I hope that is the case here.

Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]>