Governing Body Going After eBay

by Gary1914 57 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mary

  The last thing he said was that the Society has to have people looking carefully at all auctions for Watchtower material to make sure their copyright is not being violated and to look for stolen books.

  What a load of shit.....Copyright is generally defined as, " literally "the right to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is ©, and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C).

  If I have an old book by Brother Russell or Rutherford and I decide to sell it on eBay, I have no violated any "copyright" because I haven't copied anything---I'm simply selling previously owned literature. The only way their copyright would be violated is if someone say photocopied the entire book/booklet etc. that was less than 60 years old, and then attempted to sell it on eBay.

  This is just another attempt at damage control by the Society. They desperately are trying to keep "Old Light" out of the public's eye for obvious reasons----it's very embarassing. I find it incredible that they're this frigging paranoid though......good lord, if I want to see some of their embarassing quotes, i'll just look it up on FreeMinds. As for "stolen books", I find that rather hilarious. First of all, why would anyone 'steal' literature out of the Hall when it's given away for free? Unless of course, they're talking about the secret Elder's Manual which has made the rounds........Even so, their paranoia over stuff like this is ludicrous.......

  Dummies.
• 

  Apostate Kate

  The "stealing books from Kingdom Hall libraries" could be a reference to Richie RIch's little escapade, whereby he purloined a "Flock" book. Which kinda negates SlimFatArse's contention that Bethel never reads this site.

  Can you imagine how mental one would have to be to read this site and still stay faithful to the KGB GB? Sceery
• 

  Blueblades

  Also, they like to double dip, we pay for the literature, the public pays for the literature, then they get from us what the public pays. Now they want a cut from ebay. It's all about the money,$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and hiding past truths, err lies, mistakes, oh you know what I mean, disquised as copywrite infringement.

  Watchtower, you got free, give free, come and take life's water free! Isn't that what you preach.

  Blueblades
• 

  lawrence

  I guess I was ratted out... I've spent the last 5 years on Sundays visiting different KHs and stealing books to sell on Ebay. What else can an apostate do? Hell, we're all worthless thieves and liars, and have no clue that the WTS is the mouthpiece of God. Right?
• 

  Seeker4

  I agree with Amazing - selling books on Ebay is not copyright infringement at all. We buy books on Amazon all the time. Wait a month after a new book comes out and then look for it there and get it a lot cheaper than new.
  
  Does anyone have any knowledge on what copyrights they might be concerned with?
  
  And what does this have to do with the DOs? What are they going to do about it?
  Warn the publishers not to buy WTS books on Ebay? Is the WTS using them to monitor sites? That would seem a bad move. Perhaps asking them to pass on to the WTS anything they might come across.
  
  What if stuff is confidential, as in Elder's and Pioneer School manuals, and not meant for the public? Would they have a case there? Perhaps selling those could be a problem.
  
  This is interesting. Still wonder about the DO connection.
  
  S4
• 

  NewYork44M

  If a pub or pioneer sells literature on Ebay can they count the time and the placement? Do you know if they answered that question?
• 

  Jourles

  The first thing that came to my mind was some of those people who are offering CDROM's with literature scanned/copied in pdf format. Some are still copyrighted while many others are not. It could be these people who they plan to target. They cannot do squat with people selling original literature, old or new.
• 

  AK - Jeff

  I say "lets keep them busy at it then".

  Everyone here who has unwanted WTS literature should open an Ebay account and put it out there for sale. Flood the damn site with stuff. It is not illegal - might as well give the baristers something to chase!

  My guess is the 'real target' is PDF's online. They just want to scare apostates from selling the literature that can be scanned into PDF's so that it doesn't appear online.

  I doubt they care about individual books - they care about mass distribution of their lies. Also, they appear to be 'grasping at straws' don't they? Are they getting a little worried up there in the Ivory Tower?

  Jeff
• 

  AK - Jeff

  Additionally - could they be worried that 'new' literature is being exploited in this way? Perhaps the presses are printing a lot of stuff that ends up being sold by JW's online for a profit.

  Jeff
• 

  willyloman

  While this is interesting, the Big Picture is:

  The WTS is monitoring internet sites to "protect their interests," which seems to confirm frequent suggestions made here that this forum is also monitored and reported on by Bethel.
  I get this visual of a small room with four or five guys hunched over computers, scanning every site that mentions "the Watchtower" or JWs and printing out copies to attach to their notes!