ACM copyright policy and Ke-Sen Huang's pages

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Eric

unread,
Nov 22, 2009, 10:54:36 PM11/22/09
to Ray Tracing News
Dear Ray-Tracing News subscriber,

Sorry, no new issue - there's not a lot of material to report, though
I do have a many links to report. Maybe that's enough, and I hope to
get to it during the year-end break (two weeks off).

I'm writing you tonight to ask for your consideration of a small but
important issue. Lee Hollaar has an excellent summary, which I give
below. If you've heard it all before, skip halfway down for what you
can do.

-------------

From Lee Hollaar, hol...@cs.utah.edu

I thought you might be interested in something that flared up a few
days ago between ACM and a number of people in the computer graphics
community ...

It seems that a graphics researcher, Ke-Sen Huang, set up a web site
with links to copies of papers on their authors' sites for the major
graphics conferences such as SIGGRAPH. Being able to easily link to
the authors' site is considered valuable because graphics papers are
generally accompanied by videos and sometimes source code, something
that is not included in the "definitive" version in ACM's Digital
Library. The site simply contains links to the authors' sites. It
does not contain copies of any papers.

You can see it at http://kesen.huang.googlepages.com/. However, if
you click on any of the [ACM-related] entries, such as SIGGRAPH 2007,
all you get is a page that says:

Removed
This page has been removed at the request of the ACM
Publications Board.

The Wayback Machine shows what used to be there:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070815140509/kesen.huang.googlepages.com/sig2007.html

There doesn't seem to be any question about the site linking to
unauthorized copyrighted material. When the copyright in a paper is
assigned to ACM, permission is given the author to post preprints and
revisions of the paper, and that's what it links to.

The explanation given by Holly Rushmeier, the Co-Chair of ACM's
Publication Board is:

However, someone who creates a work or a service whose pattern of
links
substantially duplicates a copyrighted work should get prior
permission
from the copyright holder. One example: the creator of "A Table of
Contents
for the Current Issue of TODS" -- consisting of citations and
active links
to author-versions of the works in the latest issue of TODS --
needs ACM
permission because that creator is reproducing an ACM-copyrighted
work.

which is from Section 3.7 of ACM's current Copyright Policy. (http://
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright-policy-v4)

Prof. Rushmeier also gives a more plausible reason why ACM is doing
this:

While ACM is non-profit, it is not non-cost. Part of what it can
charge
libraries etc who foot the bill for maintaining the DL (and
keeping an
authoritative/indexed collection of all ACM publications through
all time
is not a trivial expense) is based on downloads.-- so encouraging
official
downloads has a purpose.

I can only imagine the fuss that would be raised if the RIAA
threatened a site that posted links to a performer's songs that are
legally on the web because that list was grouped by albums and listed
the songs in the same order as the tracks on the album.

This will not help ACM's image. Some important people in the graphics
community, in the email that I've seen, are considering boycotting ACM-
sponsored conferences and journals, not only with their own papers but
when asked to referee papers. And it makes ACM look hypocritical when
it criticizes other copyright owners who may be overreaching.

It's even spilled out to some blogs:
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/a6tsm/acm_censoring_linking_to_publically_available/

---end----------

Note that the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 page is still available, at Nelson
Max's request, since this information is not yet in the Digital
Library: http://kesen.huang.googlepages.com/siga2009Papers.htm

A related link, if you can't get enough:
http://ompf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&p=16492

----

So, what can you do that is constructive? First, Naty Hoffman is
gathering signatures tonight for a letter he's drafted. It follows. If
you would like to be a signatory, please send him (na...@io.com) your
name, affiliation, how long you've been an ACM member (the last is not
required), and whether you have Digital Library access through your
institution or personal subscription. An interesting aside: it's a
little-known benefit, but ACM SIGGRAPH members get access to the
computer graphics related papers sponsored by SIGGRAPH (basically,
anything on http://www.siggraph.org/calendar/) on the Digital Library
for free.

Please write Naty tonight, if you could, as he would like to send this
letter to the ACM before they meet tomorrow to discuss solutions.
Personally, I'm not fully behind passages such as "use it as a
weapon", but I support the thrust of the letter, which is why I
signed. I believe it helps to let the ACM know that there are a large
number of people interested in resolving this issue.

In writing to Holly Rushmeier, I know she is sincerely working towards
proposing solutions. Other people (mostly unpaid volunteers, remember)
involved in ACM's publications are fine people; there are no villains
here that I can see, just some imperfectly-crafted ACM copyright
policy that they are attempting to follow. If you would prefer writing
them directly:

Ronald F Boisvert (chair ACM Publications Board) - bois...@acm.org
Holly E Rushmeier (co-chair ACM Publications Board) - ho...@acm.org
Tamer M. Ozsu (vice-chair ACM Publications Board) - oz...@acm.org

The email addresses are taken from links on this page:
http://www.acm.org/publications/panel?pageIndex=4

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Eric Haines
er...@acm.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Holly Rushmeier (ho...@acm.org) and Ronald Boisvert (Co-Chairs of
the ACM
Publication Board),

We were recently made aware of a request by the ACM Publication
Board that Ke-Sen Huang remove certain lists of links to author
versions of ACM conference papers.

It is our strongly-held opinion that this step does a disservice
to the computing community as a whole and the computer graphics
community in particular.

The lifeblood of our research community - any research
community - is the free and open dissemination of research work
by its authors. Especially in the graphics community, it is
common for paper authors to post papers on their web pages. In
many cases a dedicated page is created for each paper,
with supplementary material and pointers to follow-on work.

By collecting links to these pages in one place, Ke-Sen Huang
has been providing an invaluable service to paper authors and
readers. This has cost him considerable time and effort for
which he has received no remuneration other than the gratitude
and appreciation of the graphics community. This volunteer
spirit also lies at the heart of our community.
The spirit which led Ke-Sen to work on his paper link pages is
the one which leads us to spend considerable amounts of time
reviewing ACM papers, serving on ACM committees, organizing
ACM conferences, and similar activities.

The abrupt removal of these web pages feels, to us, like
an attack on the core of our community. The reason given
for this action (that Ke-Sen's pages reduce the revenue
of the ACM Digital Library) is not compelling. No such
reduction has been demonstrated, and many of us use both
resources. More importantly, this is beside the point:
the Digital Library is not an end in itself; it is a
means to the end of disseminating information. To use
it as a weapon against community information
dissemination initiatives defeats the very purpose of
its existence.

We request that the ACM Publication Board publicly and
officially grant Ke-Sen Huang permission for his link pages.
Note that Section 3.7 of the ACM Copyright Policy allows for
such permission to be granted by ACM: "...consisting of
citations and active links to author-versions of ... works
... needs ACM permission". However, the existence of this
clause in the policy poses a "chilling effect" on future
community efforts and it would be best if the policy were
changed to explicitly allow such tables of links to author
pages.

If there is a concern about promoting the digital library, it
would be reasonable to request that each paper have a link
to the digital library version as well as to the author
version.

We thank you for your time and consideration.

Signed,

Naty Hoffman, Activision (ACM member since 1996, DL subscriber)
Peter-Pike Sloan, Disney (ACM Member since 1993, DL subscriber)
Larry Gritz, Sony Pictures Imageworks (ACM member since 1989, DL
subscriber)
Pete Shirley, NVIDIA
Adam Bargteil, University of Utah (ACM member since 2002, DL
subscriber
through institution)
Eric Haines, Autodesk, Inc. (ACM member since 1983)
... and more as we speak ...

The opinions expressed herein are our own personal opinions
and do not represent our employer's views or positions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eric

unread,
Nov 23, 2009, 7:21:55 PM11/23/09
to Ray Tracing News
It looks like the Ke-Sen problem is solved, and letters to the ACM
most definitely did help. See the letter that follows, passed on with
permission. On the ACM side Holly Rushmeier and Ron Boisvert were able
to quickly find a compromise solution today among those involved at
the ACM. Ke-Sen is adding DL links to his pages (which will in fact
make his pages even better) and they'll be back up again soon.

There are other issues that this incident brought to the fore: the
role and costs of the Digital Library, the ACM's copyright policy,
etc. Most of us, myself included, have been complacent and ignoring
these areas, as the status quo seemed stable. In the long-term I
expect some of us will be taking a deeper look now - let me know if
you're interested in being involved.

Eric

----

From: Pat Ryan <ry...@hq.acm.org>
Date: 2009/11/24
Subject: Web pages with SIGGRAPH Proceedings
To: "kesen...@gmail.com" <kesen...@gmail.com>
Cc: "bois...@acm.org" <bois...@acm.org>, "Rushmeier, Holly"
<holly.r...@yale.edu>, Bernard Rous <ro...@hq.acm.org>, "M. Tamer
Özsu" <to...@cs.uwaterloo.ca>, John White <wh...@hq.acm.org>, Prof
Wendy Hall <w...@ecs.soton.ac.uk>

Dear Ke-Sen,

As you are aware, the computer graphics community has expressed
dismay and concern about the removal of your web pages. ACM wants to
make it possible for you to continue this service that the community
clearly values very highly. By this message ACM grants permission for
you to repost the pages, with the addition of links to the
authoritative versions of the papers in the ACM Digital Library. The
author's home page links may also be included, but should not be links
directly to the author's version of the paper. Please post on the site
that the information is being provided with the permission of the ACM.
This is the solution you proposed earlier, and it is clear from the
community's comments that it is the right thing to do.

As you know, the concern about your pages was ACM copyright policy
with regard to links. As a result of the community discussion, ACM
will institute a formal review of this portion of its copyright
policy.

Please contact us with any concerns or questions.

Sincerely,

Patricia Ryan
ACM Chief Operating Officer

On Nov 22, 10:54 pm, Eric <erich666...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Ray-Tracing News subscriber,
>
> Sorry, no new issue - there's not a lot of material to report, though
> I do have a many links to report. Maybe that's enough, and I hope to
> get to it during the year-end break (two weeks off).
>
> I'm writing you tonight to ask for your consideration of a small but
> important issue. Lee Hollaar has an excellent summary, which I give
> below. If you've heard it all before, skip halfway down for what you
> can do.
>
> -------------
>
> From Lee Hollaar, holl...@cs.utah.edu
>
> I thought you might be interested in something that flared up a few
> days ago between ACM and a number of people in the computer graphics
> community ...
>
> It seems that a graphics researcher, Ke-Sen Huang, set up a web site
> with links to copies of papers on their authors' sites for the major
> graphics conferences such as SIGGRAPH.  Being able to easily link to
> the authors' site is considered valuable because graphics papers are
> generally accompanied by videos and sometimes source code, something
> that is not included in the "definitive" version in ACM's Digital
> Library.  The site simply contains links to the authors' sites.  It
> does not contain copies of any papers.
>
> You can see it athttp://kesen.huang.googlepages.com/.  However, if
> you click on any of the [ACM-related] entries, such as SIGGRAPH 2007,
> all you get is a page that says:
>
>        Removed
>        This page has been removed at the request of the ACM
> Publications Board.
>
> The Wayback Machine shows what used to be there:http://web.archive.org/web/20070815140509/kesen.huang.googlepages.com...
> It's even spilled out to some blogs:http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/a6tsm/acm_censoring_link...
>
> ---end----------
>
> Note that the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 page is still available, at Nelson
> Max's request, since this information is not yet in the Digital
> Library:http://kesen.huang.googlepages.com/siga2009Papers.htm
>
> A related link, if you can't get enough:http://ompf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&p=16492
>
> ----
>
> So, what can you do that is constructive? First, Naty Hoffman is
> gathering signatures tonight for a letter he's drafted. It follows. If
> you would like to be a signatory, please send him (n...@io.com) your
> name, affiliation, how long you've been an ACM member (the last is not
> required), and whether you have Digital Library access through your
> institution or personal subscription. An interesting aside: it's a
> little-known benefit, but ACM SIGGRAPH members get access to the
> computer graphics related papers sponsored by SIGGRAPH (basically,
> anything onhttp://www.siggraph.org/calendar/) on the Digital Library
> for free.
>
> Please write Naty tonight, if you could, as he would like to send this
> letter to the ACM before they meet tomorrow to discuss solutions.
> Personally, I'm not fully behind passages such as "use it as a
> weapon", but I support the thrust of the letter, which is why I
> signed. I believe it helps to let the ACM know that there are a large
> number of people interested in resolving this issue.
>
> In writing to Holly Rushmeier, I know she is sincerely working towards
> proposing solutions. Other people (mostly unpaid volunteers, remember)
> involved in ACM's publications are fine people; there are no villains
> here that I can see, just some imperfectly-crafted ACM copyright
> policy that they are attempting to follow. If you would prefer writing
> them directly:
>
> Ronald F Boisvert (chair ACM Publications Board) - boisv...@acm.org
> Holly E Rushmeier (co-chair ACM Publications Board) - ho...@acm.org
> Tamer M. Ozsu (vice-chair ACM Publications Board) - o...@acm.org
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