RE: What level of censorship ...

["Darren Barefoot" <darren -at- darrenbarefoot -dot- com>]

> 
> T. Word Smith asked:
> > 
> > Should software manufacturers censor our work? For
> > example, in this example, Adobe is preventing the
> > scanning of money. Should they also prevent the
> > scanning of copyrighted images, logos, Mickey Mouse?
> > 
> Those are two different issues.  The copying of money is a 
> criminal offence; violating copyright is a civil issue.
> 
> Cheers ... Kim
> 

To avoid confusion, I might add (though Kim wasn't implying this) that
property of the US government (including currency  designs) cannot be
copywritten. So, copyright doesn't apply here.

Adobe and Jasc Software (makers of Paint Shop Pro, where this currency
restriction also applies) are taking this issue too far. They have no
doubt been pressured by the American government to take this step, but
it's pretty shameful. This is classic digital rights thuggery: Because a
service of product might be used for illegal purposes, we must restricts
its legal uses as well.

This page (http://www.treas.gov/usss/money_illustrations.shtml) clearly
states the legal uses of colour illustration of currency:

1. the illustration is of a size less than three-fourths or more than
one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of the item
illustrated;

2. the illustration is one-sided; and

3. all negatives, plates, positives, digitized storage medium, graphic
files, magnetic medium, optical storage devices, and any other thing
used in the making of the illustration that contain an image of the
illustration or any part thereof are destroyed and/or deleted or erased
after their final use.

So, for example, an artist could use an uncrippled version of Photoshop
to create an artwork that included images of American currency, delete
the digital source files and be within the letter of the law. 

In short, I'm unimpressed. DB.